Shards of the Mind
by FreakOTU
Summary: An AR fic based on my other story. Please rr. Warning Lots of violence, lots of blood. Not for kids.
1. Cause and Effect

Somewhere in Siberia, Jan. 10, 3:58 AM   
  
There are few places less hospitable than the middle of Siberia, and most of those were off-  
planet. However, in this frozen wasteland, there was something that could be considered even worse.  
The small compound had six Quonset huts made of corrugated sheet metal, a concrete building that  
looked like a giant brick standing on its side, and was surrounded by razor wire fences and guard  
towers.  
Less than half a kilometre away was a stand of trees, most of which were stunted and  
withered due to the harsh weather this far north. Hidden in the trees were five forms, moving like  
liquid shadows through the knee-high snow drifts that had accumulated against the trees over the last  
three hours. Moving silently, all five forms started moving towards the small compound, quickly  
accelerating to a shagging jog.  
The shadow in the lead started jumping over fallen logs, soon leaping at an impressive range  
and rate, and landing near the base of the closest guard tower in under a minute from the first  
movement. Once there, the shadow-like figure straightened to an impressive height of almost seven  
feet, and slowly jacked the action of the Pancor Jackhammer Automatic Shotgun in preparation for  
the next phase.  
  
Inside the Concrete Structure, 4:01 AM   
  
Two guards stood at attention at either side of a heavily barred door, listening for anything  
that they could use as an excuse to slack off. One muttered something under his breath as he looked  
out of a nearby window, then swore loudly as he saw one of the guard towers slowly tip over,  
smashing itself into splinters on the ice-covered ground inside the fence. The guard immediately  
cocked his rifle while the second one slapped his hand down on the panic button near the door.  
Seconds later, a flat flare of light and a dull pop preceded another tower's descent while the  
alarm klaxons began their steady banshee wail. The second guard finished arming his AK-74 assault  
rifle. The first guard had already raised his Dragunov sniper rifle to his shoulder, and he was  
gleefully popping .50 caliber slugs at the shadows that were briefly limned by muzzle flares from  
their guns.  
Soon, the first guard was reloading his heavy gun, leaving the window wide open for a  
counterattack. When it came, both guards were too slow, and were blasted into steaming chunks of  
flesh and gore by the ancient 'pineapple' grenade that had somehow been lobbed into the fourth-  
story window. Outside, one of the shadows clung to the window edge with inhuman strength as it  
pulled away the few remaining metal bars that had guarded the window from such an attack.  
The shadow climbed into the room, landing easily on the balls of its feet. When it took a step  
towards the heavily barred door however, its left foot landed on a large lump of meat which skidded  
away, sending the person's feet out from underneath her. The form landed heavily, revealing in the  
glare of the lights that it was a woman wearing what appeared to be a bodysuit made of dark scale  
mail. After the unexpected pratfall, the form got up into a crouch and moved towards the reinforced  
door.  
The person looked inside the small 'window' to the cell, and gasped in horror at what was  
inside. The walls of the bare cell were decorated with liberal smears of blood, tinted with small glints  
of silver. Huddled in a corner of the cell was a small bundle of rags. The armoured woman frowned  
underneath her mask, then punched the door twice. Inside, the bundle did not move. The woman  
pulled her fists back from the dented steel frame where she had hit the door, and dug her fingers into  
several cracks in the steel frame.  
The woman set herself, braced her right leg on the concrete wall beside the latch, and heaved.  
The door, not designed to hold under intense stress, began to buckle outwards as the woman  
increased the pressure needed to gain access to the small cell. In less than a minute, the door was  
crushed into an unrecognisable mass of metal, and the woman had moved to the rags. She began to  
probe the heap when something wrapped itself around her right wrist and jerked downwards.  
The woman was pulled off-balance by the sudden action, and ended up staring at a metal  
spike that looked like it had once been a nail from the collapsed cot nearby. She looked further, and  
grimaced at the sight of another woman's face, puffy and bruised. "Damn, you look like something  
a coyote shit off a cliff. C'mon, let's get you out of here."  
The injured woman dropped the spike, and looked at her wanna-be rescuer. She nodded,  
gazing at her benefactor with her left eye, then fainted into the woman's arms. The woman picked  
up the injured person, walked out of the room, and, with her free hand, she pulled a small radio off  
a utility belt. Pushing the button on the radio, the woman said, "Pawn takes Queen."  
As a response, she heard, "Bishop forks King and Rook". With the confirmation, the woman  
leapt out of the window with her unconscious charge, fading into the night along with the other four  
members of the assault force.  
  
Two Weeks Later, Undisclosed Location; 10:30 AM   
  
"How is she?"  
"Not too good, I'm afraid. Her body will heal, and we replaced her right eye with a cybernetic  
augmentation." The surgeon scrubbed his hands slowly, carefully removing all traces of blood from  
his hands and arms while speaking.  
"To be honest, she'll be in intensive care for at least a week, and will require several months  
of therapy to allow her to adjust to her new eye. However, it's not her physical that concerns me."  
"Really? Hell, I'm surprised she survived for so long with minimal medical attention. So  
what are you worried about?" The two men walked out of the post-op room, and walked over to the  
glass partition separating the hallway from the ICU. Both men looked at the only occupant of the  
room, whose face was swathed in bandages, her right arm immobilized in a heavy plaster cast, and  
in-tubated so she could breathe through the hideous bruises covering her normally slim neck.  
"Her body will heal slowly, even with her nano-repair systems. Sadly, her psyche was  
horribly tested by her ordeal, and we both know that it was never that strong to begin with."  
"True. I'm glad that her brother and father are stuck in Kingston Pen. Those incestuous little  
bastards are learning exactly how much the general population hates people like them."  
"Hmm. I never knew that. What's your connection with her?"  
"We've known each other since grade nine. Let's hope she pulls through. After all, Selina  
is the commander of our spec-ops and humanitarian missions."  
"We won't know until she wakes up. We're keeping her in a medical coma until her body's  
healed. She'll probably be awake in two weeks, maybe three."  
"Thanks. Keep me posted." The young man clapped his hand on the doctor's shoulder, then  
walked away. The doctor stared at the man's retreating form for a few more seconds, then turned and  
walked to his office. As he walked away, the overhead lights reflected off his nametag, which had  
only 'Sorbie' on it. Inside the ICU, Selina's exposed eyelid twitched and fluttered. 


	2. What's Next?

A Week Later, 7:04 PM   
  
The ICU ward was almost unnaturally quiet, with the only noises being the quiet hiss of a  
mechanical respirator and the muffled footsteps of the two duty nurses. One of the beds was  
occupied, with a second one having been wheeled out several hours ago when its occupant had  
regained consciousness. The person who had been removed was a young member of the spec-ops  
team who had landed on a claymore mine in his last live-fire exercise, and ended up with several  
metal braces to keep his bones together until they healed.  
The sole remaining occupant was still heavily bandaged, looking more like a mummy than  
a person. However, many of the bandages had been removed, revealing that most of the smaller  
lacerations and bruises had faded away to nothingness. Outside of the ICU, leaning against the  
plexiglass window was a massive tank of a man, looking like he had enough muscles to compare  
with an elephant. At this point he was observing the unconscious form in the ward, but soon turned  
around to look at the lanky, bearded doctor who had walked up behind him.  
"Hello Wilson. Come to check in on her?" The doctor removed his glasses, wiping them  
clean on his tie before replacing them. Wilson scruffed at his heavy beard with one hand, then  
shrugged.  
"Well, it just doesn't feel right without her awake. Hell, on my first day here, she sheeted me  
as a prank. I've never seen any CO, military or otherwise do something like that." the Doctor  
chuckled as Wilson continued. "She's wild, undisciplined, utterly contemptuous of her superiors,  
and unarguably the most humanitarian and best-skilled of all of us. Please tell me she's going to get  
better Sorbie."  
"She will. However, it will take many more months for her mind to heal than her body, both  
of which were severely abused during her involuntary tenure in that hellhole. Sadly, I think that, with  
her mind in such an unstable state, she might decide to take revenge on those who she would believe  
put her there."  
"Really? Who would those people be?"  
"Yourself, for not backing her up. Vincent, for convincing her to do such a crazy mission.  
Everyone in the prison who assaulted her, physically, sexually, or mentally."  
"I agree with the people at the prison, and sometimes even I'd love to kick Vincent's ass out  
of his twentieth story office window, but me? Why?"  
"Inside her mind, she may connect her capture to not enough help from the other members  
of the team, despite the fact that she specifically said that she'd do it alone." Sorbie readjusted his  
glasses as he noticed that his patient had begun to shift her left arm again. He tapped on the glass in  
a prearranged code, and the nurses repositioned the patient's arm.  
"What about her other injuries doc?"  
"The minor injuries have cleared up, but her left arm will lose some mobility due to damage  
done to her ligaments. Also, she'll never regenerate the two fingers that had been amputated by the  
guards, and her right eye will take several months to get used to before she can see normally. Finally,  
her knee will be stiff for several weeks after she gets back on her feet. All in all, she's going to be  
in for a long, painful recovery."  
"Still, she's going to recover, and that's good enough. Look, I have to go, but if there's any  
change in her condition, page me. Hell, I won't care if you do that in the middle of the night, but just  
call me if anything happens."  
"I will. Don't worry Wilson, she has me for a doctor, after all." Wilson nodded, shook  
Sorbie's hand, and walked away, looking like someone had squashed all the willpower out of him.  
  
  
Several Levels up, 7:29 PM   
  
"Look, I don't care about the situation in Meridiana, she's not going anywhere until we're  
sure of her recovery!"  
"I know that, but she's the only one qualified to go into an area rife with paranormal  
sightings, constant gunfights, and borderline psychotics. Hell, that city is worse than Gotham! I  
swear Commissioner Gordon must be having conniption fits when people like the Joker break out  
of that asylum of theirs." Vincent smirked as he remembered how Selina had gone into the city  
during the no-man's-land incident and helped crush some of the really insane cults that had popped  
up during that chaotic year.  
The older man sighed, and rubbed his eyes slowly. "Still, she's severely injured, and her  
mind will probably take years to recover. When we found her, she was bordering on catatonia."  
After a moment's thought, the older man sighed again. "Okay, you win!" he said, shaking  
his head. "We'll send Wilson's beta team to Meridiana for the first stint, and he can start to establish  
a branch office and infrastructure system to assist the police in containing all these vigilantes. After  
Selina recovers, we'll send her down with Zeta team."  
"Zeta team!?! Are you crazy? They're the most gun-crazy, undisciplined, and mean bunch  
of louts under our employ!" Vincent nearly exploded, but remembered who he was talking to.  
"And, if you haven't noticed, Selina is the same except for two things: she's the toughest  
person here, and she's a mother. That reminds me, Dr. Sorbie called before you came in,  
recommending that Wilson visit Oroborus for a few days. After all, he hasn't visited his god-  
daughter in almost a year."  
"I have no problem with Wilson visiting, but he's gonna have to go to Meridiana in a month."  
"Okay. Let's tell the teams." Vincent stood up, nodded at his superior, and walked away,  
leaving the older man to figure out what's next. Shuffling through a sheaf of papers, the old man  
found something that managed to cause him to laugh, but didn't explain himself when his secretary  
walked in, wondering what the laughter was about. 


	3. Arrivals and Introductions

March 7, Angel Park, Meridiana. 12:20 PM   
  
"Hello Tony. What are you up to?" Adrian sat down beside his teaching colleague, friend,  
and sometime confidant, and unwrapped his ham-and-cheese sandwich before Dr. Zack could  
respond.  
"Hang on a second, Adrian. This... yollop managed to make several serious errors in this  
article, and I'm going to rectify them before some moronic bureaucrat authorizes a project to find  
another non-existent particle." Dr. Zack sighed in irritation as he muttered under his breath, furiously  
scribbling down notes into the margin of the magazine he had bought. After almost five minutes of  
grumbling, Dr. Zack finally put down his pencil and looked at Adrian.  
"So, now that I've deflated this one's ego, what's up?"  
Adrian polished off the last few crumbs of his sandwich, then smiled. "First, would you like  
me to get another M-80 for you? I think you just kicked over an anthill with this response." Adrian  
deadpanned, and waited for a few seconds for his statement to sink in. Dr. Zack chuckled lightly for  
a few seconds, and wagged his finger at his friend.  
"My dear friend, that's just too funny. Were you the one who convinced those students to  
draw that caricature?" Adrian smiled, but shook his head. They were both referring to a picture that  
had been given to Dr. Zack last year by some of his more talented students. The students had  
portrayed him as a Groucho Marx-esque character, dropping a lit firecracker down the pants of a  
scientist with a massively swollen head.  
"No, I didn't sic the students on you. By the way, what did you do to it?"  
"I framed it. It's right next to the picture of my erstwhile relative with a Christmas ornament  
hanging off his snoot." Adrian passed a hand over his face, trying to keep from breaking out in  
laughter.  
"Really. I still wonder how you managed to get a picture of him in his cups like that."  
"I have my friends in his camp." Dr. Zack smiled mysteriously, and was lightly punched in  
the shoulder.  
"You convinced Mel to take that picture, didn't you? Sometimes I think you're insane."  
Dr. Zack chuckled as he remembered how he had convinced Mel to take that picture, but  
soon turned his attention back to Adrian. "Well, back to the matter at hand. What brings you to me  
today? Is Lucas sick?"  
Adrian blushed, and Dr. Zack smoothed his mustache to hide his smile. In response, Adrian  
passed the older man a newspaper clipping and managed to compose himself before Dr. Zack  
finished looking up from reading the short article.  
"Hmmph. Well, it looks like the paranoid members of the city council have called in all their  
favours this time. Apparently, they have hired an elite counter-operations team to assist with keeping  
the city 'clear of all paranormal activities, allowing the kind citizens of the city to live their lives in  
peace.' This may be a problem, especially if Jose gets his hands on this information."  
"Really. Well, considering that the mayor of the city is going to be greeting the commander  
of the team tomorrow at city hall, I think we should go there and make sure that nothing untoward  
happens."  
Dr. Zack tugged on his moustache for a few seconds, obviously thinking about the possible  
outcomes of such an idea. Eventually he shrugged, and turned back to Adrian. "Well, I don't see any  
reason not to. I'll see you at city hall tomorrow. Actually, I think it's about time for those idiots in  
city hall to do something." With that, Dr. Zack stood up, collected his magazine, pencil, and the  
newspaper clipping, and walked away.  
"Thanks Tony." Adrian closed his eyes for a second, taking off his glasses so he could rub  
his eyes when he heard a light thump beside him. Opening his eyes, he saw one of his students sitting  
beside him, looking like she owned the bench. "Hello Mikae. How are you this weekend?"  
"Wishing you didn't give us so much homework. I mean, why'd you make us read two  
chapters of the Canterbury Tales for Monday? Even Dr. Zack isn't that stringent." Mikae pushed  
some bangs out of her eyes as she spoke, sweeping her pageboy-style haircut back behind her ears.  
Adrian smiled slightly. "Well, when I have to forcibly embed the love of literature into your thick  
skull, I could do worse. After all, the five-thousand word essay is going to be in the final exam this  
year."  
Mikae shook her head, obscuring her ice-blue eyes behind a screen of hair. Irritated, she  
swept the hair back into place, and turned to her teacher, leaning in towards him slightly. "I read that  
article in the paper this morning, and I really think that the shit's gonna hit the fan tomorrow."  
"I would put it in slightly less offensive terms, but yes, that's probably going to happen. So,  
anything else?" Adrian looked around for a few seconds, but saw nothing that could produce a  
mental red flag.  
"Well, I think that this little incident will drop the population of big, green, and ugly going  
about the city, but then our supplies may dry up. And we both know that if that happens, we're up  
the creek without a paddle." Adrian nodded his understanding of the situation, but didn't show any  
facial reaction to the pronouncement. "Anyhow, I'd like to meet these grunts, especially as they're   
cutting into our turf."  
"'Our' turf, Mikae? Since when have you even decided on a regular area? Usually, you're  
two rooftops behind. Besides, we have a regular supply, despite the fact that it tastes... off." Mikae  
chuckled, nodded, and stood up, stretching her arms behind her back as she did so. Her shirt had  
ridden up one arm, however, revealing a black tattoo emblazoned on the inside of her forearm. The  
visible part of the tattoo, saying X-1, was meaningless to all but three people, and two of them were  
sitting in the park at that moment.  
"Fine. Look, I'm going to that speech tomorrow, but I bet that the team's already here, just  
waiting for something to pop up so they can shred it."  
"You're probably right Mikae. Well, I'm off. I have to finish marking your essays from  
Thursday." Adrian also stood up, gathering up the few scraps from his lunch, which were promptly  
thrown into a nearby garbage can.  
"How'd I do on the essay? I'm never any good at writing..." Mikae gazed at Adrian like a  
kicked puppy, then smiled lightly.  
"Well, you didn't fail miserably. However, I couldn't read half of what you wrote. Work on  
that." With that cryptic statement floating in the air, Adrian walked away, heading towards his  
apartment. Mikae stared at his back for a few seconds, then kicked a pebble into a tree.  
"You could have at least told me my mark, you fossil." Mikae growled quietly, then she  
walked away, kicking several more pebbles down the path.  
  
Imperial Hotel, 6:27 PM   
  
"Well, we're here." Wilson eased his tank-like bulk out of the armoured car, and looked up  
at the crumbling facade of the century-old hotel. He dimly heard the nineteen other members of the  
team clamber out of their cars, but caught the jokes being fired at him by his friends.  
"Hey Wilson, this place is rattier than your own house. By the way, how could you live in  
something where the roaches out-mass you?"  
Wilson grinned as he picked up his duffel bag from the trunk. "Trade secret. By the way, are  
you sure you left enough room in your weight allowance for your equipment? After all, the last time  
something like this happened, I had to lend you my rifle for a week, mainly because you put too  
many of those god-awful body lotions in there."  
The person being ribbed, a short woman with blonde hair, responded with an eloquently  
raised middle finger and a simple "Fuck you."  
"Sorry Jenny, but if you haven't noticed, that's the only thing you did on the flight here."  
Wilson chuckled, then ducked a well-aimed slap. "Geez! I only told the truth!" Jenny didn't let up  
however, and Wilson had to stop her by grabbing onto her wrists while stepping on her feet at the  
same time.  
"Hey! Let go of me you oversized gorilla!" Jenny raged at Wilson for a few more minutes,  
to the immense amusement of the rest of the team, but she finally calmed down. "Well, I'll get you  
back later."  
"Yeah, Jenny, when pigs grow wings. Look, let's get our rooms and put some of the excess  
stuff away." With that, Wilson picked up the duffel from where he had dropped it, and walked into  
the run-down hotel, with the rest of his team straggling in behind him.  
  
Jose's Mansion, 7:30 PM   
  
Jose was pissed. His favourite dog had just died, after a Fixed Idea had mistaken it for a dirty  
rug and tossed it into the washing machine, and to add insult to injury, Cybersix had walked into the  
place, waved at him, and killed two more Ideas.  
"Okay, what's going to go wrong now? First my dog gets killed by one of these boneheads,  
then that bitch waltzes in and lays the smackdown on two of my guards. Remind me to eviscerate  
that little whore as soon as I get my hands on her." Two technos were cowering in the room that Jose  
had recently trashed, and a FI maid was cleaning up the shards of glass that were the side-effect of  
the smashed TV spitting sparks.  
"Um, sir? About your experiment on cybernetically enhanced Fixed Ideas? The surgically  
implanted armour plating was a success, but the enhanced reflex neurotransmitters were rejected."  
A third techno, wearing a bloody lab coat, had entered the room, and fired off the mixed news to his  
stunted boss.  
Jose stopped in mid-tantrum, swivelled around to the techno so quickly he nearly fell over,  
and stormed up to the lanky being. Looking up past the techno's beltline, Jose snarled lightly and  
mashed the techno's hand. Ignoring the yipping screams, Jose proceeded to vigorously shake the  
techno's hand, allowing the poor creation's bones to be mashed into something with the average  
consistency of glue.  
"Good for you! Now, tell me why this has any use to me, or I'll crush your other hand." Jose  
paused for a second, but the techno was too busy weeping over his crushed hand. "Forget it. I know  
what that armour will do. I'm actually pretty pleased about the idea of avoiding any more losses  
through friendly fire."  
The techno slowly stood up after Jose released his hand, and asked quietly if he could go to  
the infirmary and get a cast put on his hand. Jose nodded, then walked into the experiment room  
where three extremely large Fixed Ideas were strapped to heavy steel tables. All three appeared to  
have thickened muscles, but the muscles were actually half-inch thick, flexible durallex alloy meshes  
that had been implanted just under the skin.  
"Good. I wonder how well these things will fare against our little miscreants." Jose started  
to laugh maniacally, sounding almost exactly like his late, unlamented father.  
  
Oroborus, Near Ottawa. 8:20 PM   
  
"Good night Grandma!" The chorus of young voices followed the matronly woman as she  
closed the door, soon replaced by excited whisperings and giggles inside the room. Eventually they  
fell silent, and the sounds of children sleeping filled the air. The matronly woman, still tall in spite  
of her advanced age, walked slowly into the living room/rec room and leaned over the back of a  
couch to kiss her husband on the cheek.  
"So, how are the little angels?" The old man groaned as he heaved himself into an upright  
position, then walked around and embraced his wife of fifty years. "God, sometimes I think those  
angels wait until I'm around before they break something that only 'Grandpa John' can fix. Today  
they broke three wagons, a scooter, and my favourite fishing rod."  
John grumbled for a few seconds, then ran his hands through his thinning hair. His wife  
chuckled and snuggled closer to him. "Well, you probably fixed the wagons, scooter, and rod in less  
than twenty minutes each. That's why everyone likes you."  
"Well, my dear Gudrun, why do you think I married you? Not for just being a housewife after  
all. I've seen you fix your share of mechanical objects in your day. Besides, you're the peacemaker  
here. I couldn't keep the peace here if my life depended on it." Gudrun squeezed slightly, giving  
John the excuse to gently poke her sides.  
"You be careful, otherwise there might just be a war going on here. Besides, I'm still in shock  
over the news Wilson brought us about Selina." John frowned, creasing his forehead into a forest  
of wrinkles before responding. "I'm worried about her too, but don't forget that Sorbie is doing his  
utmost to keep her in one piece. Besides, she went into her first operations willingly in order to walk,  
and afterwards, she decided to go into that company to keep away from her father and brother."  
"Don't remind me of that! I still can't believe that her own father and brother decided to have  
'fun' with her when she was five." Gudrun's face darkened like a thundercloud about to burst, but  
John gently tilted her chin upwards so he could look into her eyes.  
"Look, no matter what, we'll always be here for our granddaughter. After all, her own  
daughter is sound asleep with the other six-year olds. You should've seen her when Wilson walked  
in." John chuckled, his deep voice rolling down an octave as he did so. "She was beside herself with  
joy, and that's a difficult feat. I still think she got a handful of honey in his beard though."  
Gudrun giggled at the memory of Wilson's visit less than a week ago, and sighed  
contentedly. "Now I remember the reason why we turned this place into an orphanage after Alex  
moved out. Now, is figure skating on TV tonight, or is hockey?"  
"It's a Saturday, my dear. That means hockey." John and Gudrun proceeded to curl up on the  
couch like they were thirty years younger and started to watch the game in progress. 


	4. Life Sucks Sometimes

Undisclosed Location, 8:37 AM   
  
The small room was populated by two people, and one of them was expertly throwing knives  
into a wooden board shaped like a person. The knife thrower stopped suddenly when a knife  
rebounded from the board, and she started swearing vigorously.  
"Goddamn, son of a bitch! I want that fucking knife to stick in that board, but it won't!" The  
person raged for a few more minutes, then began to calm down. By that time the second person in  
the room had gotten up from behind a table, and looked at the heavily pockmarked board.  
"Actually, other than that one knife, you've routinely nailed this target in the knees, elbows,  
and neck. All those would have disabled or killed your target." The person who had thrown the  
knives laughed, and whipped three knives into where a person's head would be on the target. The  
other person, who revealed a white lab coat and a clipboard as he stumbled backwards, shuddered  
in fear, but kept his composure.  
"Okay, you win! Look, you may be physically healed, but your actions are beginning to  
concern everyone else here." The woman rolled her eyes and started to pull the knives out of the  
target, quickly flipping them over her shoulder as she removed each one. Behind her, most of the  
knives landed around the other person, causing the hapless observer to yelp in fear.  
After all the knives had been removed, the woman turned around, looked at her handiwork,  
and grinned. "Have fun. I'll be back tomorrow..." With that statement left floating in the air, the  
woman walked out of the room, looking like a cat that had eaten the canary.   
Outside the throwing range, the woman walked down the hallway, looking like she owned  
the place, but suddenly paused mid-stride. As her face slowly leached itself of all colour, she  
staggered, then sagged against the corridor wall. At such an early time, nobody would be coming  
down to the ranges until 9, and the woman moaned in remembered pain.  
Her face dead white, with one hand clutching at her forehead, she tried to remain standing,  
but sagged downwards, eventually sitting on the cold concrete and steel floor. Her thoughts were in  
turmoil, with quick flashes and images tormenting her as sweat rolled down her face. One image kept  
on reappearing, and a single voice reverberated inside her mind. 'I don't know!'  
The quick flash of images slowly faded into nothingness, but the agonized voice continued  
its anguished cry. The woman rocked back and forth on her tailbone, oblivious to the blood that  
poured down into her right eye from a gash opened up by one of her fingernails, just above her  
eyebrow. Tears mixed with the blood, diluting the stream, and leaving a pinkish-silver puddle on the  
floor. Eventually, the woman staggered to her feet, tears and blood leaking down her face, and she  
slowly limped towards a white door with red trim.  
The door opened on pneumatic servos due to a proximity sensor, and the woman entered a  
small room with an automatic medical system installed in one wall. She pushed a button on the AMS  
with her thumb, letting her genetic code be scanned into the database. Within seconds, a small bottle  
of pills had dropped into a dispensing tray and a laser had cauterised the small head wound. The  
woman scooped up the pills with one hand, popped the top off, and slashed open the foil covering  
the opening with her left thumbnail.  
She quickly downed the entire mix of pills in the bottle, and slowly calmed down. Her  
breathing evened out quickly, and some colour returned to her face. Tossing the empty bottle into  
a nearby trash can, she continued along her way.  
  
Mikae's House, 9:19 AM   
  
Mikae rolled over at her mother's insistence, letting her arms flop loosely over the edge of  
the bed, revealing the black tattoos that marked her as 'altered'. Mikae's response to her mother's  
urging to wake up was a weak moan, a few seconds of muttered cursing, and eventually a groaned  
'yeah, sure' that got her mother out of the room.  
After several minutes, Mikae sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she stumbled over  
to her smallish closet, where she collected a pair of black cargo pants, which she wiggled into,  
tucking her black tank top into the waistline as she ran her right hand through her hair,  
simultaneously sensing that her morning breath could be considered a weapon of mass nausea.  
After finishing the necessities, Mikae stumped downstairs like a lump of rocks in human  
form, and gave her mom a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Hey mom. I have to do something later  
today, so I hope you understand."  
Mikae's mother, sighing slightly, let Mikae tuck into a large breakfast before the teen would  
run off for the day. "Well, If you stay out of trouble, go right ahead. By the way, say hello to your  
friends and nocturnal mentors for me, okay?"  
"I will mom." Mikae rolled her eyes quickly, then suddenly allowed a halo to appear before  
her mom turned around from buttering a slab of toast. After finishing off the breakfast, Mikae got  
up, helped her mother for a few seconds by dumping her dishes in the sink, then ran out of the small  
house like her butt had caught fire, pausing only long enough to grab her ever-present jacket in order  
to hide the tattoos.  
In about five minutes, Mikae was on a bus heading towards city hall, and was creeped out,  
primarily by a person who kept on looking at her like a piece of meat on a string. She got off at the  
next stop and cut through an alleyway in order to try and avoid that unnerving person. However, the  
person got off the bus at the same time, and followed her into the alley. Passers-by took no notice  
of the unintelligible words that echoed from the small passage, but a few noticed when a dull thud  
followed by a groan of pain finished the short conversation.  
About ten minutes later, the man came out of the alley, nursing a huge lump just above his  
right temple. By that time, Mikae had quietly landed in an alley a few metres from the park in front  
of city hall, and was walking purposely towards the two people she recognised in the gathering  
crowd. She threaded her way through the crowd easily, but had to dodge a few government knuckle-  
draggers who were checking out the crowd for any subversive elements.  
When she finally got to her destination, her slightly older counterpart was speaking with Dr.  
Zack, and keeping a watchful eye on the raised podium at the same time. A gust of wind rustled  
through the crowded park, whipping Six's loose pants against her legs, earning her a few  
appreciative looks from the younger men milling around. "Hello Mikae. You've already met our  
esteemed doctor from school, and now we wait."  
Mikae shrugged, absently brushing at a small rip in her jacket. "Fine with me. How long will  
it take for these people to show up?"  
Six shrugged, accenting her shoulders, even through the leather jacket she was wearing.  
"About twenty minutes. Go and get a hotdog or something while you wait." She smiled slightly,  
allowing Mikae to grin evilly. "Don't worry about me. You have more problems on your plate than  
I do. I'll be back in a few minutes." Mikae disappeared into the press of humanity crowding the park,  
leaving Six and Dr. Zack alone for a few minutes.  
"So, did you find out anything about the team that came in? Hopefully, you didn't risk your  
neck."  
Dr. Zack chuckled in response. "No. Erin took the risks, all in exchange for about fifty dollars' worth  
of junk food and a modem."  
"Heh. She thinks with her stomach and her computer, but she's one of the best friends you  
can have in the city." They both chuckled at that, then noticed that several APCs were moving  
towards the podium. "Well, look at what we have here. I t seems our new friends are slightly ahead  
of schedule." Dr. Zack watched as the nearest APC trundled to a stop less than twenty feet from him,  
and closely observed the nearest door pop outwards by six inches before sliding open.  
As the door stopped, three people got out of the APC, and moved in a small phalanx towards  
the podium. When they got there, the two people flanking the third person stopped, turned around,  
and observed the crowd. The third person, looking like he'd rather be wrestling bears right now  
instead of being stuck with diplomatic duty, walked right up to the mayor, shook his hand, and  
smiled slightly. Dr. Zack was too far away to hear the words spoken, but the mayor's face lit up like  
a hundred-watt bulb.  
Then, the mayor turned to the microphones set in the middle of the stage and nodded. "Good  
morning, citizens of our fair city! We are here to welcome a new division to our police force, a  
division whose sole purpose is to hunt down and prosecute the pervasive and dangerous beings  
called 'greenskins'," The mayor paused for the crescendoes of cheering to die down, then continued.  
"Also, these men and women have long and distinguished records as humanitarians and are skilled  
at disaster relief, so you may see them repairing damaged buildings or giving food and blankets to  
the homeless. Now, without further ado, here's the commander of this elite team, William Wilson!"  
The hulking man walked to the podium, waved at the crowd, and smiled for the cameras. He  
then turned to the microphones and, grinning sheepishly, fumbled inside his coat for a second. He  
soon pulled out a few cue cards, and held them up so everyone could see. "This is why I hate public  
speaking. I always forget my lines!" The short statement caused a ripple of laughter to fall through  
the crowd, and Wilson waited until the laughter had ended before he started on his very short speech.  
"Well, from the reception, I can guess that you'll like us as much as we like your city already.  
Anyhow, as some of you have guessed from my accent, I hail from the USA, but don't really care  
to be ordered around by a retard in the oval office." Everyone laughed at that, for the current  
president's stupidity was known worldwide. "Anyhow, I'm actually the second-in-command of a  
larger group, but our commander is currently very ill. However, she should make a full recovery, and  
may be down here in under a month.  
"As mentioned by Mayor Harris, we will help out the poor or homeless, but our primary  
mission is to keep the streets and homes of the city safe from those green freaks that have been  
attacking kind and decent people like you." Wilson beckoned the mayor forwards, and stepped to  
the background so he could scope out the surrounding buildings.  
  
City Hall Park, 9:37 AM   
  
Mikae was leaning against the base of a statue, barely paying attention to the mayor's speech.  
However, she noticed something happening to her left and decided to investigate with all the subtlety  
of an elephant being airdropped. Mikae eventually got close enough to see what was happening, and  
instantly pulled a one-eighty and ran off to where she had talked to Six for a few seconds.  
Behind her, in a solid wave of green flesh, were almost two hundred Fixed Ideas, almost all  
of them carrying rocket launchers. Six of the elite team sprang into action, just as the crowd noticed  
that they were in danger. The six members of the team had armed themselves with their favoured  
weapons, and all were wearing heavy-looking suits of scale mail covering everything except their  
faces. Of the six, four of them had ugly-looking rifles out, and the other two were carrying belts of  
grenades and pistols.  
The two carrying the grenades pulled the pins on one each, and tossed both belts into the  
advancing greenskins. The subsequent explosions of superheated gas blew apart at least fifty Fixed  
Ideas, sending body parts, gore, and the contents of several shattered vials flying in every direction.  
The body parts and blood weren't much of a problem, for they mostly evaporated in midair, but the  
highly reactive chemical composition making up sustenance instantly corroded anything organic it  
came into contact with, excepting a those designed to resist the corrosion or happening to be dressed  
in saran wrap.  
The resultant spume of 'acid' splattered over several civilians, who immediately started  
screaming in pain as the liquid began to eat into their flesh. The four troopers who had held their fire  
raised their guns to their shoulders and carefully drew beads on the nearest green heads in their sight.  
All four squeezed the triggers simultaneously, and the heads of four separate FIs flew apart as four  
loud, flat cracks split the air.  
Mikae saw the Fixed Ideas begin to respond by raising their rocket launchers, but they  
weren't ready to fire until the sixth fusillade of fire from the six people in front of them. One Idea  
managed to fire a rocket before it was cut down, and the heavy explosive slammed into the statue  
she was sheltering behind. The explosion blew the statue into heavy stone chunks, one of which  
slammed into the back of Mikae's head hard enough to crack her skull.  
The last thing she felt before falling into unconsciousness was strong arms supporting her  
back as she crumpled to the rubble-strewn ground. 


	5. So Roll With the Punches

Jose's Mansion, 7:17 PM   
  
Jose watched the video clip of the assault on the park, and cackled in glee as he saw a  
member of the new counter-ops team drop after being hit in the chest by a long burst of machine gun  
bullets, but he was cut short as the camera zoomed in on the person, who got up and resumed firing  
her ugly as hell rifle at the advancing horde. After several more Fixed Ideas had been cut down in  
withering volleys of gunfire, the remaining few managed to overrun part of the six-person squad that  
had held them off, but the few that had gotten into close combat were beaten back.  
After the video had run its course, Jose walked over to the VCR, calmly removed the tape,  
and launched the small black rectangle through a conveniently located window. "How the hell do  
six people survive heavy weapons fire without scratches, and manage to kill almost a hundred-fifty  
of my Fixed Ideas? Well? Maybe their guns can be recreated here, but I have no clue what those  
things are." Jose continued to mutter to himself for a few more minutes, then grabbed a pencil, a pad  
of paper, and started to scribble notes down onto the worn pad.  
In less than ten minutes from the beginning of his writing spree, Jose was finished, and he  
walked calmly into a nearby laboratory. Inside the laboratory, two technos were knee-deep in wires  
and chunks of unidentified metal. "Hello Jess. I have something for you to look at." Jose leered at  
the tall techno he was speaking to, for she was rather well-proportioned and had blond hair tied back  
in a three foot long braid.  
"Hello Boss. What do you want me to try and create now? As you can see, Alex and I have  
pretty much given up on this arm-mounted laser rifle." Jess motioned towards the pile of metal and  
wires sitting rather forlornly on the table, then shrugged slightly.  
"No, I want you to take a look at this." Jose handed over his scribbles, and Jess pulled out  
a small pair of reading glasses to look at the almost undecipherable words. She read the notes several  
times, seemingly committing them to memory before she looked at Jose.  
"Well, you may have better luck with a magnetically accelerated weapon compared to this  
hunk of junk. Besides, the focussing crystals that the FIs stole from that weapons lab were too badly  
banged up to be anything more than pretty paperweights." Jess frowned slightly at the thought of the  
delicate components being carted around by the strong, but abominably stupid Fixed Ideas, but she  
knew that things done in the past were worth almost nothing.  
Jess re-read the notation, then walked over to a fairly advanced computer partially buried  
underneath damaged laser crystals and sundry other pieces of junk. She quickly cleared a space by  
sweeping most of the crystals into a nearby trash can, then started punching in several algorithms  
into a specialized program. In under a minute, a detailed wireframe schematic of a gun's firing  
mechanism had popped up on the monitor while Jess was continually punching in more codes,  
modifying the firing system's schematic as she worked.  
After she finished punching in the last code, Jess leaned back and ran the program to see what  
the possible effects of such a weapon could do. The computer, obviously overloaded, began to stutter  
as its processor heated up beyond its fan's capacity to bleed off the excess warmth. Just before the  
fan would overload, the computer finished processing the algorithms and showed a small readout  
of what the gun could do.  
"In the name of all their gods, this thing is amazing. Look here." Jose hopped up on a nearby  
stool as he looked over Jess' shoulder as she pointed out the spikes in the graph. "The damage to  
weight ratio is off the scale, and this rating for armour penetration is almost sickening. If you look  
here however, the projected power drain used to fire each projectile is equivalent to making the city  
suffer a brown-out."  
"Then how could those people have guns like that without being connected to nuclear  
reactors?" Jess frowned, and tapped out a command on the computer, which was beginning to make  
some papers smoulder until she removed them and placed them on a workbench. "Well, this thing  
says that it's utterly impossible, but the evidence of that little killing spree in the park seems to show  
otherwise. Now, what would you like me to do?"  
Jose thought for a few seconds, then grinned maliciously. "I want you to steal one of their  
guns and dissect it so you can figure out how it works." Jess lost most of the colour in her face, then  
shook her head. "And, in your inestimable wisdom, how do you think I should collect this gun? If  
the user sees me, you could probably see me as a pink mist drifting over the city."  
"Well, you'll just have to be careful, won't you? Take a few types to distract the person, and  
if you kill him or her, so much the better." Jose walked off after his small pronouncement, most  
likely to go and find some hentai games he had found on the internet a long time ago. Jess looked  
at the weapon schematics and shuddered as she noticed a blinking projection of what a shot could  
do to a human. The projection simply stated 'catastrophic dismemberment', and its baleful red glow  
slowly blinked at her until Jess turned off the computer.  
  
City Hall Park, 8:21 PM   
  
Mikae opened one of her eyes, trying to look around, but gave up when her head told her that  
someone was using it for a jungle beat. Instead, she snapped her eyes shut when a beam of light  
shone into them, and she heard a quiet chuckle as she felt the warmth of the light recede. "Well, her  
reflexes haven't taken any damage from that crack she took. I think she'll be up and about by  
tomorrow." Mikae responded with a weak groan and opened her eyes again.  
She soon focussed on a very small person standing beside the head of her bed, and recognised  
the onyx eyes almost immediately. "Hello doc. What brings you to the land of the dead?"  
Doctor Pearce smiled and started to check Mikae's heartbeat with a freezing stethoscope,  
causing the younger woman to complain vehemently about surviving an explosion only to die from  
hypothermia. "Well, I'm here because I have extensive experience in healing acid burns, and that's  
what most of the injuries here are from. Besides, everyone knows I'm the best doctor in the city."  
Mikae chuckled at the true statement, primarily because Dr. Pearce looked like she was still ten.  
Pearce told her to rest for a few more hours, and Mikae decided to listen when her skull  
started to throb again. Soon, Mikae had dropped into an uneasy doze, and when she was awakened  
by someone walking in, she was somewhat disoriented for a little while. Rubbing her eyes, she  
looked at the person who had walked into the small tent, and her mind flashed a red flag. Wilson  
smiled at Mikae as he sat down on an empty cot beside hers.  
"Well, you seem to be a bit healthier. After all, you no longer look like someone whose skull  
had been rearranged." Mikae responded with a weak groan and a raised finger. Wilson chuckled  
slightly at her responses, then leaned in a bit. "You remind me of my goddaughter. She speaks what's  
on her mind, doesn't take any guff from anybody, and is cute as a button when she's not covered in  
mud."  
"And? Why do I remind you of her?" Mikae frowned slightly as she struggled into a sitting  
position, and grimaced strongly when she heard her mother's voice outside. Wilson chuckled as he  
listened to the vocal complaints coming from outside of the tent, and rubbed his beard.  
"I told you already. You just weren't paying attention. Now, I'll just let your mother in and  
let her bite your head off." Wilson stood up, squeezed Mikae's hand, and walked out of the tent. In  
less than two minutes, Mikae's mother was inside the tent, showering her injured child with hugs,  
kisses, and threats of impending death if she ever pulled something like that again. Mikae managed  
to squirm free of her mother's grasp, and held her off for a few seconds.  
"Mom, please. I know you're worried but I'm fine. Now, can you try and get me out of here  
before I go crazy?" Mikae tried to reason with her mother, but gave up after being drowned out by  
nagging. Eventually, her mother calmed down enough to be totally lucid, but had firmly latched  
herself onto Mikae's neck, slowly cutting off her daughter's air supply.  
"Um, mom? I know you don't want to let go or anything, but if you don't I'll sorta turn  
purple and drop dead..."  
"Oh! Sorry dear. Now, you'll have to stay here until tomorrow, but I'll pick you up at about  
nine. Love you." Mikae's mom ave her a parting hug and kiss, then disappeared into the growing  
gloom outside. Mikae, wide awake and bored out of her mind lay back on the cot and closed her  
eyes, trying to guess why all those Fixed Ideas had attacked at once.  
  
Oroborous, 8:30 PM   
  
"Grandpa!" John sat up as a small bundle of blonde hair and sun-bronzed limbs jumped into  
the air, landing on his lap with enough force to drive most of the air from his body. He coughed  
slightly as he regained his breath, then looked down into the beaming face of his great-  
granddaughter.  
"Well, hello munchkin. Aren't you supposed to be in bed right now?" Sebena wrinkled her  
nose at the mention of bed, then snuggled closer to one of the most important people in her life.  
"Bed's for the young'uns. I'm a big kid, so I get to sleep at Nine." John chuckled slightly,  
rolling his head to the side as Gudrun appeared and tickled Sebena, causing the six-year old to  
collapse into a gigglefit. However, Sebena soon calmed down and she looked at her surrogate parents  
with her owl-like eyes.  
"I wanna see my mommy. She's not doing too good, I know that, but I still wanna see her."  
John frowned and stroked Sebena's hair before replying. "So do we. After all, she's part of our  
family as well, and we're just as worried about her. Now, we'll talk about this later, but you really  
need to go to sleep, unless you want to watch the news."  
Sebena shuddered, and stuck her tongue out. "Ick. I'd rather kiss a frog." She then hopped  
off of John's lap and walked quietly into her room, tugging Gudrun along with her by firmly latching  
both hands around three of Gudrun's fingers. John listened from the living room as he heard  
Gudrun's melodic voice reading 'Goodnight Moon' to his darling.  
  
Undisclosed Location, 9:00 PM   
  
The woman was sitting on the edge of a large bed, idly flipping channels on the Wall-sized  
TV when she felt something begin to nibble at the back of her mind. For several seconds, she thought  
it was the precursor to another onslaught, but the nibbling sensation began to fade as she started to  
contemplate the small twinges that were coming from her left hand. She looked down at her hand,  
and idly followed the traceries of the scars that had replaced the bottom two fingers.  
She knew that her hand would bother her for the rest of her life, but it still rankled. She  
massaged the scars, trying to get some of the tension out of her hand, but only succeeded in moving  
the tension into her shoulders. Finally, she gave up and flopped backwards onto the bed. Turning  
over, she rummaged around in a large cloth locker beside the bed, and pulled out two things. The  
first was a Polaroid of someone she knew she should recognise. After all, she saw the same face in  
the mirror every morning. In the arms of the picture was a young girl, seemingly all blond hair and  
blue eyes.  
The woman put the picture back, closing her eyes despite the pain. Her left eye was the same  
shade of cobalt blue as the child's, but the right one was almost entirely black with the exception of  
a dull red pupil. She turned to the second object; a well-worn and one-eyed veteran of childhood  
wars: a faded teddy bear that always seemed to offer unconditional love to anyone that looked upon  
it. She looked at the teddy bear, slowly cuddling the patchy fur to her chest as she curled up into a  
foetal position and started to cry. 


	6. Whatever will Happen to Make Life Misera

Undisclosed Location, 6:00 AM   
  
The small black alarm clock started buzzing as soon as its red LED switched over to 6:00,  
but the only response was a weakly flailed hand that totally missed the source of the annoying buzz.  
The person raised her head after missing the alarm, reached out again, and snagged the power cord  
with two fingers. Almost instantly, she yanked the cord out of the wall, spun the alarm over her head,  
and smiled when a satisfying crunch heralded its death as she let go of the cord and let the alarm fly  
into the nearest wall.  
Rolling over onto her back, the woman closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.  
However, life in general intervened, and muffled noises from outside her room interfered in letting  
her get back to sleep. Soon enough, she rolled out of bed, accidentally cracking her knees against the  
hard floor and making her cry out involuntarily. Wincing as she stood up to her full height, the  
woman flexed her right leg for almost a minute to try and work out some tension, then looked at  
herself in a small mirror.  
Her hair, once dark red, had changed to a colour more commonly seen in an albino's eyes.  
The pinkish white strands covered the right side of her face, obscuring the mechanical replacement  
for her right eye. She swept her hair back, allowing her to look at the mechanical eye, and sighed in  
resignation. Her reflection glared at her balefully, with the black and red replacement almost  
accusing her of failure.  
She looked away from the accusing image as she rubbed her left hand, then started to  
rummage around in a small locker for some clean clothes. She eventually collected a clean black  
tanktop and camo pants, and after putting them on, she went into the hallway outside of her small  
room. The hallway had emptied in the short time it had taken her to get dressed, and she smiled  
grimly, alone again. She walked towards the familiar hallway to her left, quickly passing a small,  
dark stain on the ground which was being slowly eaten away at by a small cleaning robot.  
She walked through a pair of automatic doors, giving her access to a room with several very  
ugly-looking rifles stacked up in small racks along a far wall. She walked to the nearest rifle, which  
was encased in glass, and placed her right hand on a depression in the base of the rifle's slot. The  
glass split open and hinged outwards, and the woman picked up the ugly gun.  
Flicking a switch near the trigger guard, she noticed a green light blink at her just before a  
faint hum started to emanate from the gun. She grabbed a long, but very thin, ammunition magazine  
and loaded the rifle, then turned to the firing range that took up most of the room. Punching a button  
for several more magazines to be placed in the first firing slot, which she then walked over to.  
The woman checked the spare magazines that had been automatically supplied through a  
computerized dispenser and smiled slightly before she punched a red button in front of her. Three  
blaring honks echoed through the room as she raised the rifle to her shoulder and sighted through  
the ancient scope that had taken several hours to properly fit.  
The first target in the range popped up quickly, and the woman smiled slightly as she aimed  
at where the head would be if it was human.  
KRRRAAACKK!! The rifle spat a half-centimetre wide spike out of the barrel at Mach  
Eight, making a sound like a tree had been split open by a bolt of lightning. Downrange, the bottom  
half of the target spiralled off towards the solid stone wall fifty feet behind it, but the upper half of  
the target remained in the air as a cloud of almost microscopic sawdust. The second target popped  
up, and it met the same fate, only the entire target disappeared into a puff of smoke.  
Six more targets in a row were shattered in quick succession, then another target, made of  
stainless steel instead of plywood, popped up. The metal target took one shot, but instead of being  
turned into expensive dust, a two-foot wide hole was punched through the centre of the steel plate.  
In about thirty seconds, the woman had emptied all three magazines she had with her, and the firing  
range was littered with piles of sawdust, molten gobbets of metal, and several shattered target stands  
that had been warped by the impacts.  
She replaced the rifle in its glass case before leaving the room, but as soon as she was  
outside, she tapped a small red button next to a monitor inset in the wall. The monitor hummed for  
a second, then beeped twice as a readout scrolled slowly up the curved glass. She read the readout,  
frowned, and walked to a door across the hallway. Waiting for a few seconds after poking a stud on  
the wall, the door opened slowly, allowing her to squeeze through after several seconds.  
Inside, she punched a button that closed and locked the door, and leaned against the wall of  
the small room. After breathing slowly for a few minutes, she pushed the top button on the panel  
beside her. Closing her eyes, she felt the elevator lurch upwards towards the surface.  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 9:20 AM   
  
Cybersix groaned as she opened her eyes, trying to remember why she wasn't in her own bed  
at the time. Turning her head to the left, she dimly noticed the heavy bandage covering her shoulder  
and most of her arm.  
"Ouch." She groaned as an injudicious movement caused a rather large twinge of pain that  
ran up her arm, then managed to struggle into a sitting position without inflicting too much pain  
upon herself. After she finally managed to sit up, she noticed that she was still wearing her loose-fit  
pants and t-shirt, but her leather jacket had disappeared. Six stood up without too much trouble, then  
walked over to the door. Going through, she found herself in a rather familiar hallway, which was  
easily followed to a living room which immediately twigged on some memories.  
"Hey Tony, are you here?" Six walked into the living room, and glanced towards the small  
kitchenette that was to her left. Seeing nothing, she walked into the kitchen, hunting for a glass so  
she could have some water. After she had a drink, which revitalized her enough to feel awake, she  
walked into the basement laboratory, where she found Dr. Zack, bent over something on one of his  
worktables.  
"Hello Tony. You seem to be in good health." Dr. Zack looked up from the object, letting  
his eyes refocus quickly on his good friend. He then smiled and shook his head. "Well, I was luckier  
than you. You should be happy that you only caught the fringe from that rocket's shrapnel."  
"That may be so, but I still fell like someone abused my arm with a pneumatic drill. Got  
anything to dull the pain?" Six winced as she flexed her wrist slightly, pulling a few bandages around  
at the same time.  
"Stop that, please. Reba patched your arm up while you were unconscious, so be grateful to  
her. Otherwise, you'd be 'tenderly' cared for in that group of tents in the middle of the park. By the  
way, I got a rather agitated phone call about an hour ago, from Mikae's mother no less. Apparently,  
she managed to get a concussion just before you got ripped up, and neither Kreubens is terribly  
happy." Six chuckled slightly at the sudden mental image of Mikae being railed at by her mother,  
then turned serious for a few seconds.  
"Well, I'm glad she's okay. When the attack started I was torn between protecting you and  
finding our little friend., who had managed to make herself invisible." Dr. Zack motioned Six over  
to what he was poking at, then gestured grandly at the small object.  
"Well, what do you think? A rather complicated piece of machinery if I'm so inclined to say."  
Six poked at the object, wondering what it was, and got zapped on the hand by a few sparks that  
suddenly spewed from the lump. "Ouch! Well, I'd tell you what I think this thing is, but I'm not  
really sure what it is in the first place..."  
"Don't worry about it's habit of spitting sparks at anything that moves right now; I'm trying  
to fix it. Anyhow, to answer your question, this little machine is a portable scanning device."  
Six shook her head, rubbing her hand where the little thing had zapped her. "Like those  
police frequency scanners that criminals usually have?"  
Dr. Zack frowned at the comparison, then shrugged. "That's a pretty good guess on what it  
does, but it seems to work along the lines of a biological scanning system. My guess is that it's used  
to keep track of where a member of that team may be at any time, but it could also be used to track  
down beings with specific chemicals in their bloodstream, such as sustenance based beings like you  
or Mikae."  
"Well, that's just great. So, if someone has something like a vial of sustenance or a cellular  
sample of one of us, they'd be able to track each and every being in the city with the same chemicals  
in them? Talk about invasion of privacy."  
Dr. Zack frowned, rubbing at a few stray bristles from his mustache. "Yes, I see what you  
mean. That could be construed as a breach of privacy by some, but others may decide that the  
setbacks are worth being able to track each and every Fixed Idea, Techno, and Type in the city."  
"Putting it that way, this little piece of tech could be a godsend for those who are desperate  
for a midnight snack." Six smiled at her statement, then looked over at a hulking monstrosity  
sprawled over two workbenches that had been shoved together. "Speaking of a snack, how's your  
generator? Still on the fritz?"  
Dr. Zack nodded, then picked up a rather large wrench and began to adjust some bolts on the  
massive machine. "Yeah. Every time I get the charge to go through the entire thing without a hitch,  
something manages to seize up in under five minutes. I still haven't figured out a few things, and  
maybe one of those 'minor' niggles are why this lump of junk still isn't working correctly. Still, I  
have about half a gallon in a metal jug back there."  
"Gee thanks. I bet it'll taste just as odd as Chinese food does." Six walked over to the gallon-  
sized metal jug, and carefully poured out about half a cup's worth into a ceramic mug. After putting  
the rather heavy jug down, she gulped down the contents of the mug without spilling a drop. "Now,  
that hit the spot. Sadly, it tastes slightly coppery this time."  
"That might be a side effect of the tubing it had to go through. Well, at least it works right?"  
Dr. Zack finished adjusting the bolts that he had been playing with, and popped off a metal cover so  
he could peer into the guts of the contraption without having to use his special abilities. As he  
reached inside to fiddle with the wiring, Six decided to get some air, and went back upstairs.  
She also took the mug with her, planning to wash it out in the sink. Just as she got to the top  
of the stairs however, a dull thumping on the front door caused her heart to lace on a pair of track  
shoes and go tearing around her chest cavity. When her heart got the message from her brain that the  
door was still standing, it calmed down, and she looked through the peephole to see who it was.  
Leering into the hole from the other side was none other than the person she had decided to make  
a life with.  
Opening the door, Six grabbed Lucas by the hand with her good arm, pulled him inside, and  
closed the door. She then pulled him into a muscle-straining hug, and didn't let go for almost a  
minute. "Umm, Six? I know you probably missed me and all, but I've never seen you act like this,  
even when... well, you know."  
"Lucas please, just be quiet for a few more minutes." Lucas decided to not think too hard  
about the unexpected gift, and squeezed Six slightly with his own bearish arms. Eventually he  
disengaged from his significant other and tried to talk to her.  
"Well, you look pretty good for someone who nearly got roasted by a rocket. Now, let me  
get you up to speed on what's been going on. After that abortive little assault, most of the surviving  
Fixed Ideas took to the hills like their heels were on fire, and their butts were catching. After the last  
one had disappeared, the team that held them off set up an emergency MASH station in just under  
five minutes and called in the entire ER ward of Meridiana General. That's why there's a small tent  
village in the middle of the park near city hall."  
Six looked at Lucas with a bemused smile peeking out from behind her right hand as she  
interrupted him. "Lucas, I'm sorry, but what is a MASH? I thought that's what you do to potatoes  
every once in a while."  
Dr. Zack had managed to appear again by this time, wiping some oil from his hands with an  
old rag. "A MASH is the abbreviation for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and I'm actually  
somewhat surprised to find out that our new agency has them. Each one is totally portable, and costs  
upwards of ten million dollars apiece. How are you Lucas?"  
Lucas smiled slightly, then nodded. "I'm fine Tony. Look, I actually came here so Six can  
get home without worrying about her arm that much, and besides, I think she needs some fresh air."  
"Well, you may be right about getting her home, but before she escapes, I'll give her back  
her jacket." Dr. Zack opened up the small closet by the front door, rummaged around for a few  
seconds, and found Six's jacket, which was stained around the left shoulder, with several small holes  
running the length of the sleeve. Giving the jacket back to Six, Dr. Zack opened the door and  
gallantly bowed as Lucas led his significant other out to the battered red sedan parked just outside  
the outer wall. After seeing that Six got in the car safely, Dr. Zack closed the door, locked it, and  
walked downstairs to continue working on both the generator and the tracking device.  
  
MASH Unit 01, 10:47 AM   
  
Mikae was sitting up in her cot, idly fingering the bandage still wrapped around her head  
when her mother walked in with Dr. Pearce and Wilson. Seeing Mikae's fingers twitching at the  
bandage, Dr. Pearce mock-growled at her patient to stop prodding at the delicate fabric, then moved  
to Mikae's side to examine the head injury.  
"Well, I can say that you're somewhat back to normal, despite your head injury probably  
scrambling your brains." Mikae responded to the ribbing with a rather sharp poke to Dr. Pearce's ribs  
and a grunt. "Maybe I spoke too soon. If you keep that up, we'll keep you here for another night of  
observation."  
Mikae grimaced, then submitted quietly to the rest of the medical exam. After Dr. Pearce was  
finished poking and prodding Mikae's head, neck and shoulders, the diminutive doctor gave the  
slightly annoyed teen a clean bill of health and walked off to check on the other patients. After Dr.  
Pearce had left, Mikae's mother gave her a small bag which contained some clean clothes, then both  
Wilson and her mom turned around and left the tent so Mikae could get something clean on.  
Five minutes later, Mikae walked outside and looked at the park for the first time since she  
had been knocked out. The park's statues had been scorched or destroyed by the FI's assault two  
days earlier, and several tents had popped up around the perimeter to temporarily house the less-  
injured people who had been at the mayor's introduction of the special team. Wilson had been  
talking to Mikae's mother until she had appeared, when he suddenly excused himself to go and talk  
to a government official that was wandering around.  
"Hey mom. Can we get out of here before my brain decides to leave? I've already missed  
some school right?"  
The two started walking towards the family car, and Mikae was soon up to speed on news  
from the outside world. Oddly enough, the crime rate had spiked for a day and a half, but had  
suddenly dropped to almost half the levels from the previous week. As they talked onwards, Mikae  
soon realized that her mother had arbitrarily grounded her for two weeks for going off and getting  
walloped upside the head with a chunk of cement.  
"Two weeks! Mom, I have a social life, you know. C'mon, do you want me to be stuck on  
the computer for a while?"  
"Sorry kiddo, but you have to come home right after school's over, and no parties on the  
weekend either."  
Mikae kicked a pebble through a nearby car door, grousing about being cut off from most of  
her friends. She then perked up and let a canny grin pop onto her face for a few seconds. "Mom, you  
forgot something. I need some green stuff once a week, otherwise I'll be in really dire straits."  
"You have at least ten plastic bottles loaded with the stuff under your bed, so you can't pull  
that stunt with me. Oh yeah, if you sneak off, I will ground you until you're eighteen."  
"Mom! Geez, that's in two years! Can't you cut me some slack?"  
Mikae's mother grinned, and opened the passenger door of her car, allowing Mikae to slump  
into the passenger seat, with the bundle of dirty clothes being carelessly launched into the back seat.  
"No. Now, buckle your seatbelt. The care given you for the head injury was free, but if you go  
through the windshield when some moron cuts us off, our medical insurance won't cover the glass  
removal." Mikae growled slightly, but did as her mother told her to do, which turned out to be  
sensible, as two punks on motorcycles instantly cut the car off, causing her mother to slam on the  
brakes.  
After Mikae could breathe again, she looked at her mother, raised an eyebrow, and simply  
said "Kids. What are you gonna do?" The response was a wave of laughter. Seconds later, the car  
continued on its trip towards Mikae's home, even though it's driver was partially convulsed by  
waves of laughter.  
  
Undisclosed Location, 2:52 PM   
  
The woman was lying on a small hillock, letting the cool grass tickle the back of her neck  
as she looked up at the clear sky through the broad leaves of an ancient maple tree. As a cloud slowly  
scudded its way across her field of vision, she felt something nibble at the back of her mind again.  
This time, instead of fading, the nibble began to intensify, and it felt like it was trying to force its  
way to the forefront of her mental processes.  
Sitting up, her real eye suddenly lost its focus and seemed to look inwards as she curled up  
into a ball, rocking back on her tailbone. Inside her mind, a mental floodgate had been released, and  
several dozen images swarmed into her conscious mind. Her mind seemed to dwell on all the images  
of happiness, skipping over massive heaps of images that flipped past like pages in a photo album.  
Many of the 'happy' images dwelled on a young girl with bright blue eyes, long blonde hair, and a  
perpetual smile on her face. As more images flipped towards her mind's eye, the woman tried to  
speak a name that was unfamiliar to her, and eventually succeeded. "S-Sebena? Where are you? I-I  
want to see you." Her voice was hoarse and strained, but she didn't notice, especially as outside  
voices began to intrude on the little flashes popping around inside her brain.  
"She's going into total cardiac shutdown! We need some adrenaline to restart her heart!" A  
six-inch long needle was raised over a small red dot on her chest, and jabbed downwards into her  
heart. The sudden injection of pure adrenaline caused her heart to restart its normal rhythm,  
especially when combined with a powerful electrical jolt that raced through her heart and lungs at  
the same time.  
Her eyes opened, and she gasped for air through a long plastic tube stuck down her throat.  
Surrounding her on all sides were masked faces, one of which had been pulled down to reveal an old  
man wearing glasses.  
"Good. Her heart rate's back to acceptable levels, but she's not breathing on her own. Keep  
her under observation, leave her hooked up to the respirator, and if she has any episodes, tell me  
immediately." He turned his attention from the nurse, and looked down at the woman. "Please, don't  
scare us like that. When we found you, you had been unconscious for almost ten minutes. Now, just  
be careful, and try to stay alive."  
The woman nodded, then dropped into unconsciousness, lulled along by the thump-hiss-  
wheeze of the artificial respirator  
Several hundred kilometres north of where she was resting, a young girl paused for several  
seconds as a cold shiver ran down her spine. 


	7. Storms on the Horizon

Several Blocks North of Imperial Hotel, 2:25 AM   
  
Jess was leaning against a rough brick wall, watching and waiting for her quarry. Just as she  
thought that the person would never show up, he walked past her, less than ten feet away. Jess  
brushed some of the ever-present mortar dust off the shoulders of her mini-jacket and tugged on the  
hem of her extra-tight skirt. *The next time Jose gives me a suggestion like this, I'll have his balls  
for bookends.*  
Jess walked behind the man, trying (and succeeding) in looking like a young woman out for  
the first time. Rather innocently, she walked past the man, who had a very difficult time trying to not  
ogle her butt. Just as she walked past another alley, the Type she had planted there reached out and  
grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket, violently pulling her into the very dark alley. Even though  
she had planned the entire operation from the get-go, Jess was still surprised and let out a small  
shriek of terror as the Type yanked her farther into the alley.  
Behind her, at the mouth of the alley, the man stood, pulling a very ugly pistol out of a holster  
that had been concealed by the person's long jacket. Just as he was about to speak, a long, impossibly  
thick arm holding a baseball bat swung downwards, connecting heavily with his skull and producing  
a rather sickening CRUNCH. The hapless man collapsed like his bones had turned into jelly, and a  
pool of blood started to form around his cracked skull.  
Jess grinned, then told the Type to let her go. The Type did so, and she walked over to the  
body. "Thanks ugly. Go and kill some cats or something." Jess pulled off the person's jacket and,  
using her rather impressive strength, she pulled the heavy leather holster off of the man's belt. She  
then pried the pistol from the man's fingers, putting the gun in the holster. Jess then put the holster  
in her own jacket pocket, nodded at the Type, and the two disappeared into the alley where a car was  
waiting.  
Back at the collapsed body of the man, a pair of green hands reached down and clumsily  
checked for a pulse. Finding one, the giant grunted in satisfaction. The huge hands easily picked up  
the unconscious man, and the giant easily jumped to the nearest rooftop. He moved quickly across  
the rooftops towards the only area that could restore the injured man to health. Soon, the giant  
clambered down a fire escape near Meridiana General, and deposited the still-unconscious man on  
a convenient stretcher.  
The giant tapped the emergency call button with one finger, then ran from the scene like a  
bat out of hell. Safely on a rooftop several blocks away, he sat on the stone corning and sighed  
heavily.  
"I understand why these people were called in, but now Jose has one of their weapons.  
If he is capable of reverse-engineering it, which is likely considering that he'd put Jess on the  
research team. I hope my friends can derail Jose's research program." The Giant stood up,  
balancing carefully until he could move back a bit from the rooftop. When he was far enough away  
from the roof, he gathered himself and started to leap towards a well-known townhouse very close  
to Angel Park.  
  
Dr. Zack's Townhouse, 3:12 AM   
  
Dr. Zack rubbed his eyes, feeling another headache coming on as he mentally refocused on  
the huge generator. The accursed hunk of metal, wires and electricity had given up the ghost again,  
after processing only half a litre of sustenance. Hearing his security system beep, he looked up at a  
CCTV he had installed beside his favourite computer. The screen showed a rather large mass  
standing in front of the door, and instead of trying to knock the door down, it was slowly reaching  
out for the doorbell with a pinky finger easily the size of a normal person's big toe.  
"Heh. Well, I'd better greet him before he destroys my doorbell." Dr. Zack stood up and  
walked to the front door just in time to hear a rather discreet rapping on the door. Opening the door,  
Dr. Zack came face to sternum with his old friend Mel.  
"Hello Dr. Zack. Can I come in? The information I'm going to tell you shouldn't be  
broadcast about." Dr. Zack nodded, and retreated so Mel could enter his humble abode. After Mel  
entered the house, and Dr. Zack closed the door, the only things heard were dull rumbles and an  
incredulous 'WHAT?!?"  
  
Unknown, 4:20 AM   
  
Something flitted into sight, then disappeared. Again it appeared, closer this time. Instead of  
disappearing though, it moved even closer, revealing long hair, pale white wings, and grey robes.  
Just as it got to the threshold, it turned around, revealing its face. It smiled for a few seconds  
revealing pale teeth and bright eyes, then its pale skin started bubbling like it was water in a pot.  
The skin slid off, revealing the muscles, bones, and staring blue eyes. As time seemed to  
accelerate, the body collapsed into a boneless heap, leaking blood from its stripped face. Suddenly,  
a raging red tide flowed over the dusty ground, and the sensation of thick, coppery fluid filling lungs  
was overpowering.  
Bubbles slowly flowed upwards in a steady stream, obscuring the dull sky above. Darkness   
flared quickly, then engulfed everything except pain. A white light resolved itself into a circle of  
blinding glare, which shadows moved around. Pain lanced up and down her arms, and a raspy voice  
spoke in accented English, asking the same question over and over, getting the same answer.  
The voice stopped quickly, and a sickening *crunch* echoed, followed by a hoarse scream.  
As the scream faded, a long tube hove into view with a triple click. A fourth click echoed right  
before the world exploded in fire.  
  
Undisclosed Location, 4:21 AM   
  
"YAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" The woman sat bolt upright, sweat covering her face and body like  
a second skin. Hyperventilating, she stayed there for a few minutes as her right eye automatically  
scanned the room for anything even remotely hostile. Hearing quiet footsteps, she turned to the left  
and watched as a young man walked over to the bed.  
"My god. Are you alright? You sounded like someone was trying to rip out your throat."  
She smiled tightly and traced a ragged scar running down the side of her neck. "Someone's  
already tried. Izzat you Vincent?"  
The man nodded. "Yeah. It's me. How are you feeling?"  
She stood up, letting her bare feet suffer from the cold floor. "Like hell. Go away and let me  
get dressed in peace."  
Vincent blushed up to his hairline when he realized she was naked, and hurriedly turned  
around so he didn't see anything too incriminating. After a few minutes, she reappeared beside him,  
wearing shorts and a sweater. "Well, who wants to talk to me now? If it's a shrink though, I will kill  
the sucker."  
"No, It's not a shrink. We have something for you." Vincent started walking to the door,  
followed by his shorter companion.  
"So tell me! I'm sick of this place, I'm sick of the crap food, and I'm definitely sick of seeing  
everyone around me moving like they're on eggshells or something." She paused for a second to let  
Vincent get ahead of her, then jumped on his back like she was seven. "Now, gimme a piggyback  
ride to the boss."  
Vincent had been sent staggering around the hallway when she had landed on him like a sack  
of potatoes, but he soon compensated and started to walk towards the VIP elevator that would bring  
them to the boss. Soon, both people were laughing like little children, and Vincent had collapsed into  
the elevator, totally out of breath.  
"Well, remind me to not let you get behind me again. Anyhow, let's get to the boss' room  
before he gets angry and sends Zeta team to find you." Vincent stood up, allowing her to get to her  
own feet without any trouble. Just as she finished brushing off some errant bits of dust from her  
sweater, the elevator lurched upwards, causing her to stumble against Vincent. Despite the feeling  
of comfort that was felt when he wrapped his arm around her to keep her from falling, she  
remembered something else, and struggled to get free.  
Vincent let go almost instantly, and she leaned against the elevator wall, seemingly wedging  
herself into the corner. "Sorry. Maybe you should be kept under observation for another few weeks."  
"When Hell gets a hockey franchise. Now shut up." It took a visible effort for her to stop  
trying to go through the wall, but the elevator stopped soon enough.  
As soon as the doors opened, she got out of the small space like something had died in there,  
and considering Vincent's breath, that wasn't too far from the truth. She looked around at the  
understated elegance of the hallway leading to a set of heavy-looking double doors, and started  
walking to the doorway. "Well? Aren't you coming along too?"  
Vincent followed her at a discreet distance, and watched as she easily opened the doors,  
despite the knowledge that they outweighed her at the best of times. Just past the double doors were  
six heavily armed men and a young woman sitting at a desk. The woman at the desk nodded at the  
guards, looked cooly at the two people, and muttered something about the boss being in and waiting.  
Vincent nodded, thanked the receptionist, and gestured grandly towards the door behind the  
receptionist, earning himself three glares, two one-finger salutes, and a kick in the ass from the  
woman as she passed him on her passage to the small door. "Go somewhere and die Vincent."  
She opened the door far enough so she could squeeze through, and once she had entered the  
room, she instantly kicked the door shut on Vincent's foot, causing him to yelp in pain. As Vincent  
was extricating his foot, she walked over to the only object in the room that wasn't totally utilitarian.  
She stood there, contemplating the rare painting as Vincent hobbled over to her.  
"It's beautiful. Who did it?" The painting was that of a rugged landscape at sunset, and the  
natural beauty was somehow enhanced by the artist's style.  
"A relative unknown. I think his name's Lenoard Skinner, but he's apparently quite popular  
for several children's books he wrote and illustrated."  
She looked up suddenly, her left eye boring into his own. Just as quickly, she smiled and  
turned back to the painting. "Gerom and Katz huh? I read those as a child. Kept my mind off... other  
things"  
"Sorry. Well, the boss is waiting for you." She tensed slightly at the mention of the boss, then  
turned from the painting to continue to the meeting. She walked to the end of the long room, where  
a conference table was sitting with several chairs around it. Already sitting in one was an old man  
wearing a business suit and a smile. In another was Dr. Sorbie, and the third occupied seat had a  
woman, obviously advancing to middle age.  
Vincent sat down in the last chair, looking like he owned the large mixture of metal and  
leather, leaving the woman to stand there in front of everyone. She looked at each member carefully,  
then cracked her knuckles loudly to signal her displeasure at being examined like an insect specimen.  
"Well, you seem to have undergone a full recovery." The old man leaned back in his chair,  
letting the leather squeak slightly as he slouched a bit. The response was an irreverent smile that  
seemed to fall flat in the muted atmosphere of the room.  
Dr. Sorbie spoke up next, flipping through a small sheaf of papers in front of him as he  
spoke. "Well, all the physical injuries have healed or been repaired, but we're not too sure about  
your... umm... stability."  
"I'm fine doc. Worry about your niece for a while. How's the lymphatic tumour?"  
Dr. Sorbie smiled and relaxed a bit. "She's fine. The tumour was destroyed by the new  
chemotherapy that was developed by you and Merson three months ago."  
"I'm glad. I hope to meet her sometime." She turned to the next person at the table, the older  
woman. "Hello Merson."  
Merson nodded, then flipped something to her. "Here. You'll need this for where you're  
going." She caught the small object, which turned out to be a universal VIP pass for New Los  
Angeles.  
"The hell? Why am I going there?" She looked up after examining the pass, and glanced over  
at the old man.  
"We want you to capture someone. She's currently being forced to assassinate the heads of  
several mega-corporations, and could be suffering from a timed existence."  
"Timed existence? Okay, spill."  
"She has several packages of gel implanted under her skin. When the chemicals inside the  
gel react with haemoglobin, well... boom. Apparently, someone known as the Martinet has his finger  
on the switch. We want you to find the person, knock her out, and preferably kill the Martinet as  
well."  
"Fine. What's the person's name?"  
"Lotos Abstraction. If you don't find her in a few hours, she'll probably find you, with guns  
blazing. Be careful. Your flight leaves in two hours."  
She sighed, then accepted the offered sheath of papers and pictures from Vincent. "Fine. If  
you don't hear from me in three days, send in Alpha."  
  
Meridiana High School, 9:20 AM   
  
Mikae skidded around a cluster of grade nine students, ducked under the custodian's arm as  
he replaced a wall clock, and body-checked the door to Mr. Siedelman's classroom. "Hey! Teach!  
Talk to me for a sec."  
Adrian looked up as Mikae collapsed onto a desk, looking like several very angry demons  
had chased her here. "Well, if it isn't the ever aggravating Mikae Krubens. What brings you to my  
humble classroom?"  
"Other than the knowledge that it's my first class today, I have something to ask you."  
Adrian's left eyebrow shot up to his hairline. "Okay, shoot."  
"Well, how did you get out of being grounded when you had to do something vital?"  
Adrian chuckled for a few seconds as he realized what the convoluted question actually  
meant, and he wiggled one of his fingers at Mikae's face. "To be honest, I never really got in trouble  
when I was younger, despite what happened when I was about nine. Besides, I kept almost  
everything about myself a secret."  
"You still do. Also, I'm somewhat concerned."  
Mikae was looking anywhere except at her teacher, and that clued Adrian in."You're worried  
about your mother, aren't you. Care to tell me why?"  
"Well, she's going out with someone."  
Adrian leaned back a bit and looked at Mikae. "Well, from my knowledge, you mother's a  
single parent. What's so wrong about her dating someone?"  
"The commander of that counter-ops team? I think that's going a bit too far."  
"I see what you mean. However, from what I've seen of him, he's fairly nice and he's  
apparently pretty easygoing."  
"Right. And I'm passing all my courses."  
"You are." Adrian smirked as all the wind in Mikae's sails suddenly blew out of the room,  
leaving her deflated.  
"Okay then. I'll just let life in general wake mom up." With that, Mikae stood up and walked  
out of the room.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital, 9:30 AM   
  
Wilson stormed through the double doors like an angry bull in a china shop, looking like  
someone had dropped a smoke grenade down his pants. "What the bloody fucking hell do you mean,  
'One of my men was injured'?!?"  
Three nurses ducked, two doctors dodged to the sides of the hallway, and Wilson was  
stopped cold by Dr. Pearce. "I'll tell you. Someone clubbed one of your members over the head with  
a baseball bat until he was knocked unconscious with a cracked skull. Just be glad that he's still  
alive, primarily because the fracture alone could've driven bits of bone into his brain, thereby totally  
scrambling his brains and leaving you with a corpse instead of someone in the ICU."  
Wilson stopped and looked at the diminutive doctor for a few seconds, then stormed over to  
the ICU. "Do you have any idea what could have done this to him?"  
Reba paused for a second in her jogging to keep up with Wilson, and was quickly  
outdistanced. She ran to catch up to him, and managed to get beside him by the time he had gotten  
to the observation window of the ICU. "As on what could have done this, I have a small list.  
Anything dropped from a great height could've caused his injuries, but there's no trauma to the neck  
and shoulders, ruling that out. Secondly, a normal person with a tire iron and a good deal of surprise  
could knock your man out, but that doesn't explain the magnitude of the injury. Thirdly, and most  
likely, one of those greenskinned brutes got the drop on him and knocked him about with a baseball  
bat."  
Wilson looked at the member of his team, whose head was currently swathed in bandages,  
and swore quietly for several minutes. "I had hoped to not see this for a long time. Less than two  
months ago, I saw the same thing, only the injured person was my best friend. Please contact me  
when he regains consciousness." Wilson reached into a rather large pocket, pulled out a slip of paper,  
and scribbled a number on it with a borrowed pen. He then gave the number to Reba and walked out  
of the hospital, looking like he'd happily break someone in half if they crossed him.  
  
Jose's Mansion, 11:10 AM   
  
Jose walked into the weapons lab like he was expecting instant results, but instead got hit by  
a constant volley of swearing as his eyes refocused to observe the happenings in the dim room.  
"Stupid goddamned mother-fucking, father-raping, sonofabitch! Whatever you do, don't turn on the  
lights! Just stay there, and I'll get to you soon enough." By the time the swearing had tapered off,  
Jose's eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, and he could see the shadowy form of Jess easily hop  
over the crates of ammunition on her path towards the still-open door.  
"Jose? Don't touch the light switch, you'll get electrocuted. Some idiot shot it out, and I  
haven't had enough time to repair the damn thing. Now, if you wanna see the newest toy in our  
collection, hang on for a few seconds and I'll bring it over." Jess scrambled back over the crates,  
mentally cursing the fact that she hadn't had time to change out of her undercover clothes when she  
heard the stunted little bastard giggle happily.  
Soon, she had returned with the salvaged pistol, and showed the gun to her 'master'. "This  
is what we 'collected' from one of those troopers. Hopefully, FI-4 squashed the bastard's head into  
paste."  
Jose grinned as he gestured for the gun. After Jess gave it to him, he whirled around and  
pretended to squeeze the trigger, aiming at a box full of C4. "Bad idea. If you pull the trigger, almost  
all of the mansion will be atomized by just that crate. Point it somewhere else."  
Jose grumped for a moment, but decided that life and the opportunity to torment CyberSix  
were better than being reduced to component atoms. "So, how does this thing work? Just point and  
squeeze?"  
"Yes, but we only have the loaded magazine for ammo, so don't waste any." Jess carefully  
removed the gun from Jose's hands, and placed it on a nearby table. "Also, if you want me to  
reverse-engineer this thing, you'd better get another techno to help me out."  
Jose looked like he was about to rip Jess' head off as she continued to speak, but common  
sense (once again) prevailed, and he walked out of the room, muttering something about creating a  
work gang for the guns. After he left, Jess stopped her scientific rambling, turned back to the gun,  
and smiled. "Now, let's see how your insides tick."  
  
Imperial Hotel, 12:24 PM   
  
Wilson lay on the bed, thinking about everything that had gone wrong since he had gotten  
here. First, the attack on the assembly caused much more havoc and mayhem than anticipated,  
primarily because nobody had told him that the green liquid was acidic. Secondly, the attack on his  
trooper managed to already make the rounds in the team, causing morale to plummet. Jenny was  
taking it especially hard, but the two had worked together for the last three years as a sniping squad  
inside the team.  
Sighing, he stood up, and walked to the small conference room the hotel staff had cleaned  
up for the team, crushing a hissing cockroach the length of his foot. "Remind me to spray this place  
with about six hundred tons of raid." Wiping the dead roach off the bottom of his boot with some  
tissues, he then continued on to the conference room.  
Wilson opened the door to the room, instantly slammed it shut, and felt three darts impact  
the heavy wood before he reopened the door. "Good job. You nearly disabled me. Now, let's get to  
the chase." He looked around at the room, and sighed again, this time at the immature antics of half  
the team. The team had divided themselves into two groups, and they were gleefully tossing pies at  
each other.  
"Hey! Children! Get to your seats!" Wilson roared at the top of his lungs, sending the rest  
of the team to their seats at mach three. The only person who delayed was Jenny, and that was  
because she was cleaning some cream pie out of her left ear.  
"Now that you've all calmed down, I want to lay out some rules so there's no repeats of what  
happened to Tsier. Now, first off, I want everyone to have their armour on, but until you see  
something illegal happen, it stays at total dormancy. Got it?"  
The chorus of 'Yessirs' was music to his ears, but he then continued. "Now, you can keep  
the gauss pistols in concealed holsters, but they're weapons of last resort or of greenskin popping.  
For normal stuff, you have the electro-grapple, which still has a ten metre range." Jenny piped up  
then, looking slightly concerned.  
"Sir? I understand why you want to use the pistols as last resorts, but the electro-grapples are  
powerful enough to drop an elephant at forty paces. Why do you want us to use them, even though  
there's a risk of frying the subject's brains?"  
Wilson looked at her for a few seconds, then started to chuckle. "You never looked on the  
left side of the damn thing. On the left side, just above the trigger guard, is a voltage setting easily  
labelled: Munchkins, Humans and Elephants. All you have to do is turn the button to the desired  
setting. I'd recommend keeping it on elephant setting just so you can drop the big green guys that  
much faster."  
Jenny looked like she was about to spit razor blades at Wilson, then thought better of it  
because the rest of the team was also chuckling. Eventually she also started to chuckle, and the entire  
team seemed to be back to normal.  
"Sadly, our good friend and boss has been delayed. Apparently the higher-ups have sent her  
off to New LA to stop an unwilling assassin."  
One of the younger troopers spoke up, obviously self-conscious about speaking in front of  
such a nasty group. "Sir? How can a person be an unwilling assassin? Either you are one, or you  
aren't."  
"Not true... Davidson is it? A person can be forced to assassinate others because something  
dear to them is being held hostage, but in this case the person has no family, friends, or even remote  
relations. She's a zero."  
Davidson persisted, and Wilson mentally gave him points for tenacity. "A zero is someone  
who's suffered from total identity destruction right? Well, the only way that can happen is if the LA  
killer is a mindless drone."  
Wilson applauded slightly, causing the younger troops to jump in their seats. "Got it in one!  
From what I've been told, the killer is being forced to knock off the heads of several states and  
corporations against her will. However, the person's probably a total sociopath, and may be schizoid  
as well. After all, who knows what goes on over in the west coast?"  
That statement got a few chuckles from the team, and Wilson dismissed them to their duties.  
*Now, if only they'd tell me if she's totally recovered or not. I'm still concerned, especially as she's  
going into that little playhouse alone.* He sighed heavily, then pulled out a cellular phone and  
dialled a long series of digits.  
  
Flight 982, Somewhere over Nevada, 3:27 PM   
  
*Remind me to kill Vincent when I get back home. I hate flying, if only for the delays from  
the metal detectors. Not to mention, every male security guard always wants to try and go for a full-  
body frisking session.* She sighed in resignation as she leaned back in the plush seat, then glanced  
upwards as a blast of cool air ruffled her hair. Biting back a curse, she closed the air vent, then  
returned to her slumped posture, head resting on one shoulder, and looking like someone who just  
fell asleep.  
Soon, she had fallen asleep, but instead of peace, there were roiling masses of nausea like  
storms on a lake. The nausea passed quickly, but things changed quickly from there. The inner vision  
some people seem to possess only intensifies when the conscious mind is dormant, and in this case,  
it ran rampant. Quick flashes of quicksilver throbbing through tubes, a giant pump keeping the liquid  
in motion. Beside the pump, giant bellows fed air to the system, fuelling the fire that allowed  
everything to work. Below the fire, a small room, normally empty. However, something stirred, and  
the system began to rebel.  
She woke up, barely keeping from losing her lunch. Standing up, she slowly walked to the  
nearest bathroom on the plane, closed and locked the door, and promptly lost all the food she had  
eaten at noon. She left the small room after cleaning up as best she could, and went back to her seat.  
There, she calmed down her breathing, then felt the plane descend. As her ears popped, she smiled  
slightly and cracked her knuckles. *I can finally get off this crate. Time to find that person, and if  
she shoots at me, I'll just put a cap in her ass and wipe out whoever this 'Martinet' is as well.*  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 7:20 PM   
  
"So, Jose has his hands on a gauss weapon. This could be very bad. Maybe he won't be able  
to reverse-engineer it, but I'm not counting on that in any way, shape or form. I think I'm going to  
have to derail his research program." He turned back to the sustenance generator, fitted a new piece  
of copper tubing to the coolant coils, and soldered the metal tube into place. Dr. Zack paused in his  
ruminations as he mentally processed some mathematical theorems that seemed to work out.  
"Now, hopefully this added section of coolant will keep the thing from seizing due to an  
overheat, and the surge buffers are working normally. Sadly, the fibre-optic wires cost me a bundle,  
but they should suffice for the power feed." Dr. Zack flipped the switch, stepped back, and prepared  
himself for the worst. However, as a reward for his concerted efforts, the generator began to hum  
slowly, spooling itself up to maximum capacity as he watched the various needles and gauges for  
any pressure fluctuations.  
Nothing changed after five minutes, and a small stream of sustenance was beginning to pool  
in a large metal trough. "So far, so good, but we'll have to see how long it lasts this time. May as  
well derail Jose's little weapons research program while I'm waiting. Maybe an anonymous phone  
call will do the trick..." 


	8. Fire and Brimstone

New LA. Near ITMP HQ., 1:10 AM   
  
She waited for the sirens to die out, hiding in the shadows between two dumpsters as several  
men holding ugly-looking rifles ran past. After the alarm system shut off, she grinned and cocked  
the wrist-mounted crossbow that was resting on her left forearm. It had been loaded with  
tranquillizer darts, but the darts had been enhanced enough to be able to put down an angry elephant  
in just under three seconds.  
She knew two guards were to her right, so she peeked out, raised her arm, and flexed her  
wrist twice, sending a dart into each guard's back. Both men grunted in pain, then collapsed into  
lumpy heaps as the tranqs took effect. She grinned wickedly, reloaded the crossbow so it held its full  
complement of four shots, and stepped out of the shadows. Moving into the building through a  
nearby air vent, she started to search for the CEO's room.  
Twenty minutes later, she was looking down into a dim room with two people inside. One  
person, obviously the CEO of the company, was looking outwards through a very large window at  
the perpetually dark and smoggy skies. The second person, holding what looked like a TriggerMortis  
ReadyKill machine pistol, was already aiming the gun at the hapless victim's head at almost point-  
blank range.  
She was about to break through the vent when her objective fired her gun twice, cleanly  
blowing the CEO's head off, and splattering large chunks of bone and matter all over the window.  
The killer turned around, getting ready to leave, when the headless body stood up, letting a  
mechanical voice grate out of a speaker in its chest. "Do you think you can kill me that easily? I've  
had all my organs transplanted into my chest, and they're enclosed in trained metal."  
The killer spat on the ground, raised the gun, and toggled a switch on the side. The barrel of  
the gun increased in diameter to almost four inches, and she grinned, revealing bloody teeth. "So?  
Let's see what some mini rockets will do to that stuff." Before the headless body could move, the  
killer back-flipped onto a desk, and fired a stream of six rockets at it. Five rockets hit, exploding in  
a series of strobe-like flashes and muffled roars.  
The effects of the rockets were obvious, simple, and greatly nasty. The body was torn apart  
into pieces about the size of a person's finger, while the sixth rocket smashed into the window,  
shattering the armoured glass into razored shards that rained over the streets thirty feet below. At that  
point, she had seen enough and smashed her arm through the grate, triggering all four crossbow  
bolts. Three missed, smacking into the steel flooring and sticking there like impromptu needles in  
a piece of cloth. The last bolt hit the killer in the knee, punching through the leather and metal  
bodysuit like it was made of paper.  
The tranq took effect instantly, knocking the killer out in less time than it took to gasp in  
pain, allowing the observer to pry away the remnants of the grate and drop into the room. After  
discarding the now-useless crossbow, and arming herself with the custom gauss rifle she had used  
several days ago on the firing range back at home base, she moved to the unconscious person.  
Turning the person over onto her back, the woman roughly ripped the barbed crossbow bolt out of   
her objective's knee.  
The woman studied her objective carefully, first removing the machine pistol still clenched  
in her right hand. The objective's face was deathly pale, almost albino-like. She was wearing a  
bodysuit that had what appeared to be integral boots and gloves, but the most interesting part was  
a small glimmer of gold that seemed to nestle at the base of the throat. "What the hell is that?" The  
metal glimmer disappeared, looking so much like a metal worm that she unconsciously shuddered  
as she pulled the unconscious woman's head around to search for any scars.  
The person's short black hair was thick, and hindered the examination for a few seconds. The  
exam turned up nothing, and the woman slung her unconscious charge over her shoulder, letting the  
rifle dangle from her left shoulder by its leather sling. She had pulled a small radio from the ever-  
present utility belt, and tapped out a code, which got an immediate response by two clicks and the  
dull WHop-WHop-WHop of a helicopter's blades cutting through the air. Three minutes later, both  
people were in the troop deck of a black-ops GC257-HL0, heading towards the airport.  
The stealth chopper landed only long enough to drop off the objective, who, still  
unconscious, was secured to a heavy-looking medical board by straps of flexible titanium. After she  
was satisfied that the straps were secure, the woman re-embarked the helicopter and hooked herself  
up to a headset so she could talk to the pilot. "So, have you got a trace yet?"  
The pilot shook his head, then spoke through his own headset. "Not yet. I'm betting on at  
least three more minutes until the uplink has managed to get a complete trace on the Martinet. Wait  
a sec, it looks like we have a partial trace from the objective's left hand. Apparently, there's a  
transmitter that she uses to get in contact with a middleman. We've locked on the middleman's  
location, and we can than trace through his own connection to the boss."  
"Good. Let's go." The helicopter lurched, rising into the air several metres before heading  
off towards the core of the city.  
  
Dr. Zack's house, 4:15 AM   
  
Dr. Zack looked at his special phone, then at a slip of paper with a number that had taken him  
almost the entire night to find. He mentally thanked the fortune he had by knowing CyberSix and  
her kindred though. Reba had supplied him with the cell number several minutes ago, and he had  
just managed to finish setting up the complex anti-trace program to scramble the call location.  
Sighing in resignation at being sucked into another strange and interesting adventure, Dr.  
Zack picked up his special phone and dialled the number. After six rings, the number went through,  
and a muffled growl was the first response, followed quickly by a less-muffled curse.  
"Yeah? If this isn't a beautiful woman, I'm hanging up." Dr. Zack tried to keep the  
amusement from his voice as he heard several background noises, including the rattling hiss of a  
cockroach.  
"I'm an... associate of sorts. I have information about your injured member and his missing  
weapons."  
There was an instant change in the tone of voice. "I'm listening."  
Dr. Zack continued. "I have an insider in the organization that 'collected' some weapons  
through larceny and leaving your comrade in a hospital bed with his head covered in plaster. There's  
a certain mansion just to the north of the city limits. Inside that mansion is a secret weapons lab  
owned by the same people who have those green freaks running around committing murder and  
grand larceny."  
"Hmmph. Continue."  
Dr. Zack felt slightly unnerved by the lack of inflection in the voice, but forged onwards.  
"Well, the same source also told me that the weapon that was taken is currently in the laboratory,  
where several people are trying to reverse-engineer it so those guns could be used by the entire  
organization. I don't think you want people who consider humans to be nothing but cattle to be  
slaughtered having weapons powerful enough to destroy a tank in one shot."  
The voice began to collect vigour, and the man seemed to growl slightly. "Damn right I want  
to keep weapons like that out of their hands. Do you have any more information?"  
"Only the basic stuff. The place is perpetually guarded by almost a platoon of those  
greenskins, and most of those are armed with RPG-7 rocket launchers from the old Soviet Union.  
I'd recommend heavy body armour, and a team of good snipers. Also, the mansion is loaded with  
enough ammunition and explosives to take out most of the north quarter of the city even at that  
distance. I'd be careful."  
The voice chuckled darkly for a few seconds, then seemed to fade out. "Oh, I'll be careful.  
Just watch out for the fireworks."  
Dr. Zack smiled thinly. "I'm quite serious. Please don't go for as much collateral damage as  
possible, despite the fact that it would greatly please many denizens of the city. My source also  
advocated restraint."  
"Okay. I'll pass that recommendation onto everyone. Still, I'd tell your source to be as far  
away from that mansion as possible in a few hours." The man hung up, leaving Dr. Zack to wonder  
if he hadn't just signed the death warrants on everyone in the north quarter of the city. Deciding to  
take no chances, he dialled the mayor's office and left a message on the answering machine.  
  
Imperial Hotel, 4:40 AM   
  
Wilson yawned again, looking like someone had kicked him out of bed several hours too  
early. Scratching the back of his neck, he glared slightly as two fingers came back bloody. *stupid  
vampiric roaches. Maybe I'll move the base of ops tomorrow.* Sighing, he heard his cell phone beep  
twice in the special code used to tell him of mission updates. Looking at the display, he read the  
scrolling line of text and smiled slightly.  
"Heh. Looks like our boss has already completed half of her mission. Now, let's get ready  
for our own mission." Looking around himself like an angry bear, he noticed that the team he had  
selected for this mission-within-one were almost completely ready. Most of the members had their  
personalized suits of reactive armour on, and several were now getting their weapons ready. Wilson  
had already suited up, leaving his own armour at the default peacetime mode because of the slightly  
lower power drain.  
Wilson turned to his own weapons, and selected only two from the medium-sized rack. His  
first choice was what looked like a katana's hilt, but the blade existed as an almost paper-thin edge  
of nanomachines. The 'Dragon's Tooth' as the sword was called, could cut through anything made  
of solid matter like it was warm butter. That's why the blade, when deactivated, retracted into the  
hilt, leaving the ten-pound weapon as nothing more that an eight-inch long chunk of metal.  
The second weapon, created by Blue Shot technologies, was aptly named the 'Kinslaughter  
PPC'. The basic shape of the weapon could best hearken back to the old bazookas from WWII, but  
a bazooka didn't have electrical capacitors in the barrel to channel a stream of charged protons into  
bolts of pure energy. The gun was unwieldy, slow to fire, but could fry the nervous systems of about  
ten men per shot and blast holes through six feet of reinforced concrete without producing so much  
as a spark.  
Wilson placed the Dragon's Tooth into a specialized scabbard that kept the weapon dormant  
until he drew it, then slung the Kinslaughter around to his back as well, where he made sure it  
wouldn't bang around by wrapping a leather strap connected to the gun around his waist. When he  
was finished, Wilson looked at his now-ready squad of ten.  
"Okay children. This is a search-and-acquire mission. We go in, retrieve our property, and  
leave, preferably without being spotted. Now, I'm the diversion, along with Jenny and Davidson.  
Davidson, this is your first time on one of these missions right?"  
The response was hesitant, but truthful. "Umm, yes sir, that is correct."  
Wilson nodded slightly, then smiled. "Okay, you stick close to Jenny. She's the sniper, so  
she'll stay back a bit. You just keep her out of trouble, while I make more trouble." Davidson looked  
confused, but nodded slightly as Jenny gave him a more concise set of rules on what to do while she  
was sniping. Wilson chuckled, then pointed at each of the eight other members of his little raiding  
force. "You're the infiltrators. Be careful, and don't get killed."  
With that, he then opened the window and motioned his squad out into the early morning  
gloom.  
  
Adrian's Apartment, 6:20 AM   
  
*That's the last time I let Lucas convince me to get into a drinking competition. I think some  
extremely strong espresso might destroy my hangover enough to turn me into something at least  
resembling human by Eight.* CyberSix, still dressed in Adrian's shirt and baggy pants, groaned as  
she sat up, looking at herself in the full-length mirror she had nailed onto her bedroom door.  
Frowning at the image, she stuck her tongue out at it, and put on her glasses. *Hopefully, Lori's sick  
today. I don't need her bothering me today.*  
She stood up form the desk where she had been marking some of the essays from the  
previous week, and instantly regretted it as her headache returned with a vengeance. Slowly moving  
into the kitchen, she brewed herself a large pot of espresso, and downed the entire concoction in just  
under twenty minutes. The caffeine instantly blasted the remnants of the hangover into orbit, and Six  
almost instantly felt better.  
Soon, she was outside, dressed as Adrian Siedelman, and wondering why there were several  
dull cracks and faint explosions coming from the north of the city. Still, she walked towards the  
school, rather unconcerned about the occasional blast. Inside her apartment, the phone began to ring.  
  
Mikae's House, 7:45 AM   
  
Mikae was sitting at the window of her room, sulking about being grounded. Just outside,  
she could look down the street to the jungle bordering the north side of the city. She had been  
watching since almost five in the morning, when a loud metallic crack jolted her out of bed.  
Occasionally, a tree in the forest would shudder, then collapse like the trunk had been shattered into  
many small pieces.  
A rather loud explosion rattled the windowpanes in front of her, but Mikae was bored and  
didn't really care. After all, the windows had been rattling for the last ten minutes from the smaller  
explosions. Of course, being bored also meant that she wasn't paying attention, and so Mikae nearly  
had a heart attack when a blackened chunk of wood smashed through the window, clipping her right  
thigh, and nearly totalling her computer. "WHAT THE HELL?!?" Mikae was on her feet in a shot,  
tossing the smouldering chunk of wood back out of the totally destroyed window.  
Her sore leg nearly buckled under her body weight, but her cursing only accelerated her  
mother's haste from the kitchen. Sarah Kreubens ran in, looked at the destroyed window with bits  
of glass strewn about, and saw the now-bright purple bruise on her daughter's thigh, partially  
obscured by the shorts she was wearing.  
"Oh my... What happened here?" Mikae looked at her mom, tears in her eyes from the  
apparently excruciating pain from her bruise. "Look out what's left of the window. You'll see what  
looks like the remnants of a telephone pole that visited my thigh from outside. Ahh, dammit this  
hurts! Can I stay home today?"  
"Sorry, but I'm too busy. You'll have to fend for yourself at school." Mikae's eyes doubled  
in size as she slowly straightened out her bad leg, wincing in pain as the bruised flesh stretched  
slightly.  
"Mommm!!! Can't I stay home?"  
Sarah was still inspecting the damage done to the window frame, and mentally sighed at the  
fights with the landlord that popped up inside her head. "No. Besides, you have a Math test and  
another English essay due today."  
"I was hoping you'd forget about those. Okay, I'll go to school, but don't blame me if my leg  
collapses under me."  
Sarah turned to see that Mikae had finished getting dressed in her pseudo-normal clothes,  
wearing loose pants, a baggy shirt, and her ever-present jacket. "Well, you look pretty healthy. Now,  
get to school before you're late. Take the bus today. Your leg probably won't hold out on your  
normal route."  
Mikae groaned, and hobbled downstairs into the kitchen. Grabbing a piece of buttered toast,  
she wolfed it down, then rooted in the fridge for a half-empty bottle of sustenance. Pouring a fair  
amount into a glass, she guzzled most of the glassful before putting the rest of the bottle into the  
fridge, then finished off her drink. "Mmm. Tangy. Well, off to the one place I hate more than  
anything."  
She grabbed her school bag, which had been turned into an impromptu doorstop, and limped  
out of the house, just in time to be nearly knocked off her feet by a shockwave that rattled overhead.  
"What in the name of god is going on out there? Hopefully, Jose's mansion is being knocked down  
by a few dozen bulldozers."  
Mikae regained her balance after the shockwave passed by, and walked over to the closest  
bus stop so she could get to school.  
  
Outside Jose's Mansion, 7:50 AM   
  
Wilson growled slightly as a brace of six rockets flew overhead, exploding in the trees behind  
him. Jenny and Davidson were situated on a small knoll about forty metres to his left, gleefully  
popping heads off the green-skinned brutes as fast as possible, despite a few near misses that had left  
the ground around them pocked and scorched.  
His PPC had overheated after almost five minutes of sustained fire, but the west wing of the  
old mansion was more hole than structure. Wilson ducked as a second volley shattered underbrush  
into steaming fragments of wood and leaves, and cursed again at the bad luck that had seemed to  
overtake him. His squad had managed to infiltrate the base quickly and quietly, and they had  
managed to get to the weapons lab in the basement where they recovered the captured gauss pistol  
as well as almost forty C8 grenades and several damaged laser focussing crystals.  
Leaving the mansion became much harder when they were attacked by a squad of ten brutes,  
forcing Wilson to create a very large diversion. At that time, he had aimed carefully at the windows  
of the most opulent part of the mansion, and fired a few shots to wake up whomever owned the  
place. Hopefully, he had killed the evil bastard as well, but he was too busy to dream about such  
things.  
The PPC's primary attack was a vicious bolt of electrical energy, capable of causing massive  
burns to a target as well as roasting their nervous system. The secondary assault was just a vicious,  
but in a different manner. The secondary attack was a concentrated static discharge that ionized the  
air in a cone in front of the large-bore weapon, blasting a pressure wave through almost anything  
solid. The only side effect of the pressure wave, other than having greenskins being knocked over  
like bowling pins, was a massive sonic boom in the reverse direction.  
Still, it was a good weapon, despite its propensity for collateral destruction as well as street  
sweeping. Wilson was letting the gun cool down to a reasonable temperature before firing it again  
when he heard something that was almost music to his ears. The distinctive echoing cracks of gauss  
rifles being fired on full auto echoed form the damaged building, and Wilson added to the cacophony  
by firing three shots from the PPC. Each blast shattered part of the wall surrounding the front of the  
mansion, and the infiltrators blasted their ways out of the front of the mansion, moving as fast as they  
possibly could.  
Davidson popped the head off of a greenskin that had been sighting in on Wilson, and Jenny  
was providing covering fire for the infiltrators. Wilson discarded the now-useless PPC, and using  
the Dragon, he smashed the bulky weapon into unrecognisable scrap. Wilson waited for the rest of  
the team to get out of the mansion with their booty, then ordered them to clear out of there. He stayed  
behind until everyone had left, then turned and cleared out of there as well, chased by several  
rockets.  
  
Inside Jose's Mansion, 8:00 AM   
  
Jose wasn't pissed. He wasn't even tearing his hair out and tossing about temper tantrums  
like they were going out of style. Instead, he was so angry his face had settled on bright purple for  
its current shade, and his eyes were totally bloodshot. Currently, he was talking to his second-in  
command, who had nearly been turned into a blood slurpee by a well-aimed shot from what appeared  
to be a portable tank cannon.  
"Now, what can you tell me about this unprovoked assault upon my home? Who did it, why  
did they do it, and what are we going to do as RETALIATION?!?" Jose was almost frothing as he  
spoke, but Helmut took it all in stride.  
"Master, we should first find out what the extent of the damage is, and find out what was  
taken from the weapons lab." Helmut tried to placate the extremely torqued off clone, but was  
interrupted by a techno wearing a long laboratory coat which was torn and scorched.  
"Those nasty little bastards! They stole the gun I salvaged, as well as the laser crystals and  
a hell of a lot of high explosives! If I ever find one of them, they will definitely not be able to be  
recognised as human later." Jess was growling angrily, mopping blood from a gash at her hairline.  
Jose smiled slightly at seeing someone angrier than him, but stopped when the techno's words got  
through his skull.  
"They got the gauss weapon? Why didn't you DO SOMETHING?!?" Jose exploded again,  
causing a nearby Fixed Idea to scramble away, accidentally knocking over a small table with a lamp  
on it. The buzzing pop of the lightbulb shattering set everyone on edge for a second, then Jess started  
to yell at Jose.  
"Do you really think I could do anything? I was surrounded by eight people, all armed with  
those rifles that cut your little assault to pieces. If I had pulled anything, you'd be out one weapons  
specialist, and most of the mansion would've disintegrated around your ears when the ammo stored  
in the lab would've cooked off. Now, I don't think you want to be turned into fertilizer anytime soon,  
but that's exactly what would have happened if I had decided to try and keep them from taking what  
they wanted." Jess neatly cut off all of Jose's arguments at the knees, leaving the short villain to stare  
at the fuming techno, jaw agape.  
"Now that I'm done ranting, I'll give you an idea. First, we split up into smaller cells so that  
something like this doesn't happen to a firmly established base. Secondly, we go out and capture  
someone, even if it's just to make you feel better by getting a torture toy for you. Thirdly, we get that  
secret project of yours up and running as soon as possible. Good enough?"  
Jose nodded, but frowned slightly as he remembered the generators in the basement. "What  
about the sustenance pool? Huh? We just gonna forget about it, or the castle, and starve to death?  
Don't think so."  
Jess frowned, than removed her shredded coat. "NO, I'm not proposing that we abandon this  
place. I'm saying that we need to spread out our strength so we don't get hammered like this again.  
The core of our strength will still be here, but we'd also have forces scattered through the city so we  
can wreak havoc all over the place instead of just in the north end."  
Jose smiled slightly, then ran off to his damaged office in order to find something. He quickly  
returned, carrying two map cases and a sheaf of papers. "Okay, Helmut, you have the east side of the  
city. Go there with a squad of FIs and Technos. Find a few boltholes and begin to establish discreet  
perimeters. Also, try not to be seen. Jess, you have the south side. Same orders, but I probably don't  
have to tell you to remain unseen. After all, you've been trying to stay hidden ever since that mission  
I gave you."  
Jess growled slightly, her cheeks reddening slightly. Helmut, however, saluted his 'master'  
and took the offered map before leaving to gather some troops. Jess did the same after a few minutes  
of hesitation, leaving Jose standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by cracked mortar,  
splintered wood, and shattered glass. In the corner, unnoticed by all, a Fixed Idea swept up pieces  
of glass while wondering about the ramifications of this change in plans.  
  
Near LAX Airport, 5:10 AM   
  
The helicopter landed after almost four hours in the air, and as soon as the door to the rear  
compartment opened, a small metal and plastic headset flew out, shattering on the pavement as a  
volley of curses followed it. The source of the cursing soon hopped out of the helicopter,  
instinctively ducking to avoid the still-turning blades. After the pilot of the chopper left the dormant  
machine, three technicians scurried in to service the monster. The pilot hurried to catch up to his very  
angry passenger, but when he got beside her, all he could hear was a muttered string of curses that  
would have traumatized anyone who hadn't served in the military.  
"Stupid, goddamn, mother-fucking, donkey-raping, imbecilic bastards! The next time I get  
faulty information, I'm going to make sure that they'll never talk again." The woman started to move  
with a purpose, heading towards a communications van parked near a spruce goose. The pilot tried  
to stop her, but he was roughly shoved out of the way, and with the enhanced strength of her body  
armour, he was sent tumbling almost forty yards.  
By the time the pilot had gotten to his feet, shaken the cobwebs out of his mind, and resumed  
moving towards the van, he could hear the extremely inventive supply of swearing echoing through  
the large van. Inside, things were another matter. The woman was so angry, she had one of her  
myriad firearms out in her hand, and was aiming at a point between the eyes of the communications  
officer that had screwed up. The officer, as a result, was madly thumbing the panic button screwed  
to the underside of his console, while trying to keep from going cross-eyed as he focussed on the  
wide barrel of the woman's heavy pistol.  
"Now, if you ever pull a mistake so stupid as to say that a HOUSING COMPLEX is a SAM  
site, I'll personally cut your dick off and stick it through your ear! Also, don't try to presume what's  
going on in a stealth helicopter, especially when we're on a manhunt." The woman was quite ready  
to blow the person's head clean off, but was stopped by three of the elite troops that had been  
assigned to the temporary base as security. The three troopers buried the woman under their bodies,  
but the armour she was wearing kept her from being hurt.  
However, the three men messed up the shot, sending the bullet from the pistol straight into  
the monitor in front of the officer. The explosion of plastic, glass, and sparks told everyone just how  
pissed she actually was, so while two of the security troopers held her arms down, the third troop  
pulled out a hypodermic, jabbed it into her neck, and depressed the plunger, releasing an extremely  
strong tranquillizer into her bloodstream.  
The instant it took effect, her body went limp, and her eyes closed, but not before shooting  
an if-looks-could-kill-all-that'd-be-left-of-you-is-smouldering-boots glare at everyone in front of her.  
She then dropped off in unconsciousness, and the three men carried her out of the van. The  
communication officer looked at the shattered screen in front of him, ears still ringing from the close  
proximity of the pistol shot.  
"She could've killed me. I can't believe how close I was to having some light let into my  
head."  
The second person in the van turned to look at the destroyed monitor and whistled. "Just be  
glad she wasn't at top form. Otherwise, she'd have triple-tapped your head while those guys tackled  
her."  
"She's that skilled?"  
"Or that psychotic. Don't cross her, and make sure you never produce a mistake that could  
set her off." The second officer turned back to his own radio setup and made a short call to the boss  
of the security team. The almost-victim stood up, placed his headset on the table between himself  
and his comrade, and walked outside to have a smoke. After lighting the cigarette, he took a few  
deep drags to calm his nerves, and watched the sun rise in the distance. 


	9. Eye of the Storm

Undisclosed Location, 10:13 AM   
  
Vincent looked through the message transcript three times, muttering under his breath as he  
read what had happened two hours before. *She nearly ventilated one of the comm officers? Heh.  
He must've deserved it. Well, I hope our primary objective is still alive.* He flipped through the  
sheath of four closely-typed pages, and on the last one he saw the mission status. The page had only  
a few lines on it, but they declared good news for once.  
The first line held the entire mission's status in a simple abbreviation, and Vincent had  
deciphered it almost instantly. "Well, we retrieved the primary, and she's still alive. That's a good  
thing. Sadly, the martinet's still out and about, and the rest of the mission's been scrubbed. That's  
gonna throw a wrench into our plans." Vincent stood up, opened the door to the corridor, and started  
walking down to the elevator. As he passed a discreet-looking door, he paused for a few seconds,  
then turned and opened the door.  
The room was dark, as it had been for the last two days. The only evidence that someone  
lived in it though were the two footlockers at the foot of the bed, and a small, tattered bear sitting  
on the pillow. The only other sign was that there was no dust in the room. Vincent sighed slightly  
as he closed the door and continued onwards to talk to the boss.  
  
Near Meridiana High School, 10:52 AM   
  
Mikae was righteously pissed. She had miserably failed her math test, her English essay  
turned out to be crap on a stick, and the boys at the school acted like sharks on raw meat when they  
saw her limping from the bruise on her leg. She had been forced to resort to threatening three of the  
dumber ones with a baseball bat before the guys left her alone.  
"God! Why does everyone fall all over themselves to try and be helpful? I'm known for  
taking care of myself, and everyone just disregards it. Screw it." She was currently sitting beside an  
old oak tree imported from the northern US., and she was irritated enough to put some dents in the  
hardwood with her fists. Looking around at the schoolyard, she grimaced as she probed the sore spot  
on her leg.  
*Damn. I'll be sore for another day or two, but I really can't do much about that. Still, I'd like  
to know what was going on up there.* Mikae stood up, using the tree for support and sighing in  
irritation at the prospect of having to limp almost seven hundred yards to the front of the school, with  
a bunch of sex-hungry boys trying to help her so they could get into her pants later. Still, she started  
to move, but was abruptly stopped when a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around her  
midsection, pinning her arms to her sides.  
Struggling to get free, Mikae used her enhanced strength to her advantage, and slammed both  
elbows into her captor's sides simultaneously. Against a normal person, the impacts would have  
shattered his or her ribs, as well as sending some extremely painful shocks through internal organs.  
However, her captor was definitely not normal. The only response to the powerful blows was a  
muffled grunt, and a third hand clapping a cloth loaded with chloroform over her face.  
Involuntarily taking several deep breaths, Mikae felt the powerful sopoforic take effect,  
pulling her inexorably into unconsciousness. As her eyes closed, Mikae's last thought was that her  
mother would kill her.  
  
Meridiana High School, 11:45 AM   
The lunch bell rang, and the students in Adrian's class tore out of there at close to mach six.  
After the small dust devils and flying papers had subsided, Adrian stood up, walked out of the  
classroom, and went over to Lucas' class. Inside the old biology room, Lucas was busy trying to  
avoid catching jungle rot from a very angry, very large Komodo Dragon that had been imported  
several months ago from the Komodo Islands.  
Adrian, utterly nonplussed by the sight of a chair being crushed into an unrecognisable mass  
of metal and plastic by the dragon's sharp teeth, stepped into the room, knocked out the huge lizard  
by punching it on top of its head, and pulled Lucas out of the way of the creature's collapsing body.  
"Whew! I thought I was a goner. Remind me to install a heavier door on that cage, okay?"  
Lucas carefully lifted the heavy lizard up and placed it back in the reinforced cage that was its home  
until the zoo had the belligerent creature's exhibit ready. Adrian sighed under his breath, then looked  
at Lucas.  
"Well, while you're feeling euphoria because you're still alive, can you tell me if you've seen  
Mikae anywhere? She was supposed to be in class today, and she's not the type of person to skip  
school."  
Lucas scratched at his jaw where he had cut himself shaving, then responded. "I saw her  
taking out some anger on that old oak tree near the football field, but I was busy and didn't see her  
come back into the school. Maybe we should go over there and check it out." Adrian nodded, and  
went outside with his friend. They walked towards the oak tree, occasionally breaking up the random  
extortion being applied to the junior students by Lori's gang.  
When they got to the tree, Adrian noticed that one side of the tree was pretty heavily dented  
and scraped, like a car had smacked it. Just at the foot of the tree however, was something that  
caused Adrian deep surprise and consternation. Bending down, he picked up a small piece of paper  
and the earring that was beside it. Adrian carefully opened the folded paper, and read aloud the short  
notice inside:  
"'We have your child. If you don't leave fifteen thousand dollars, in small denominations,  
next to the oak tree by tomorrow, we'll send your child back to you in small denominations.' Damn.  
I recognise this earring at least. Mikae's been wearing that ever since her first run-in with me." Lucas  
looked up when he recognised the uncharacteristic anger in Adrian's voice, and saw his friend  
looking at the earring. Lucas also investigated the simple metal stud, and saw that it was covered in  
blood, like it had been ripped out.  
Lucas blanched slightly, then reread the note. "Shit. We have either a kidnapper, and that  
hasn't happened at this school for almost twelve years, or one of Jose's thugs decided on getting him  
some fresh meat. Well, maybe we should kick the crap out of him."  
Adrian looked at Lucas like he had grown another head. "Very funny. First off, he has a  
hostage, and that hostage is about as powerful as I am. Secondly, I don't think I'd be able to find her  
in less than a day, and they said they'd kill her. Finally, I think some professional help would be in  
order. I'm going to call someone who has some experience in matters like this."  
"Who would that be?" Lucas looked slightly aggrieved at the idea of Adrian once again  
sticking his neck out too far, but kept somewhat quiet.  
"You probably know him. After all, he nearly took my head off during the detective  
incident." Adrian smiled darkly, then walked off, holding the paper in one hand, and the earring  
tightly enough to draw blood from the points on the diamond-shaped stud. Lucas remained at the  
tree, examining the dents. As he stretched his arms to work out the kinks, he caught a whiff of  
something and decided to follow his nose. The faint smell brought him to a copse of trees near the  
school, where he found a discarded bottle and a cloth reeking of chloroform.  
  
Police Headquarters, 12:02 PM   
  
The cell phone beeped twice, and when the person couldn't grab it quickly enough, it started  
a rendition of Mighty Mouse's 'Here I Come to Save the Daaayyy!!!', causing the owner of the  
phone to grin sheepishly as he was suddenly targeted for the ridicule of the other detectives for the  
rest of the month. He flipped open the cellphone, and quickly answered.  
"This is Enrique."  
"Hello Enrique. We have a situation at the High School."  
The tone of voice set him off, and he instantly waved the other members of the room to  
silence. "Really. Can you tell me what's going on?"  
"One of the students was abducted, and a ransom note was left behind. The kidnappers are  
demanding fifteen thousand dollars, otherwise they'll kill her."  
"I'll be right over, with several officers. I might get a few of the new boys over as well so  
they can help out as well."  
"New boys? You are talking about that special team that was brought in a little while ago  
right?"  
Enrique chuckled, sounding like a rusty door being opened. "Yep. I'll be over at the school  
soon." He hung up, looked at the other detectives, and told them what was up. The response was  
instant, vehement, and sprinkled with enough foul language to knock out a convent of nuns. Most  
of the detectives got their jackets so they could also check out the crime scene, but Enrique was  
already halfway down the stairs, dialling a number to tell his captain what just happened.  
In less than twenty minutes, the school had been shut down, several police officers had  
cordoned off the area where Mikae had been abducted, and Enrique was questioning Adrian and  
Lucas about what they had seen.  
The three men were sitting in Adrian's classroom, and Enrique was looking out the window  
at the crime scene. Turning back to his two acquaintances, he tried to smile, but the only effect was  
to make his face look almost like one of those angry gargoyles that had terrorized the city a few years  
ago.  
"So, when did you realize that this student was missing?"  
Adrian sighed slightly, then nodded towards the bulge in Enrique's coat pocket. "Maybe you  
should take the tape recorder out of your pocket, turn it on, and leave it on a desk so there's better  
sound fidelity."  
Enrique smiled slightly, then pulled out two tape recorders, one of which was already on.  
"Way ahead of you. Now, back to the question."  
"Well, I noticed that she hadn't come back from the five-minute break between classes at ten-  
fifty, but I just thought she was slowed down because of her bad leg."  
Enrique's right eyebrow shot up, and he looked squarely at Adrian. "Bad leg? How do you  
figure that?"  
Adrian frowned slightly, but continued. "She was limping when she arrived at school, and  
had to beat back the random swarm of sex-hungry boys with a baseball bat so she could be left alone.  
From what I've known of her, Mikae is the type of person who'd rather bleed to death than ask for  
help."  
"That could be a problem. How's her mother taking it?"  
"I don't know. Mikae had been abducted once before, and a mutual acquaintance helped her  
out of that mess, but Mrs. Kreubens seems to be accustomed to the danger in the city, and she might  
be confident that her daughter can take care of herself."  
Enrique nodded, scribbling a few notes down on a pad of paper as he listened. "Well, we're  
going for a total dragnet through the city, and I don't think the people who did this will get too far.  
We've also called in the spec-ops SAR specialists, and they're easily as good as navy SEALs when  
it comes to tracking someone or something. They also used that earring you found to get some  
cellular samples of our missing person.  
"Apparently, they'll be using the sample to track her specific chemical signature through the  
city, and they can recover her as soon as possible." Adrian and Lucas looked slightly relieved at that  
bit of news, then fell into concerned despondency once more.  
  
Inside Jose's Mansion, 4:47 PM   
  
Mikae groaned as she opened her eyes, and, seeing nothing but a dim green glow, she decided  
to try and stretch. That was when she realized she was neck-deep in trouble, and chained to a wall  
as well. *Oh shit. Well, it looks like I'm gonna be shuffling off the mortal coil sometime in the very  
near future. Hopefully, I'll be able to take someone with me.* Her arms had been bound to a sturdy-  
looking rope hanging from the ceiling by several feet of what looked to be galvanized steel chains.  
Her legs had been tied together with the same chain, and the cold air made her wonder if the bastards  
had stripped her naked as well.  
Looking down, she saw that she hadn't been stripped naked, but her jacket and shirt had  
disappeared, leaving her clad in only her cargo pants and bra. "Hey! Get me down from here!" Mikae  
struggled against the heavy chains, but whomever had strung her up like this was obviously skilled,  
as nothing gave way to her strength. She stopped struggling when she heard a malicious chuckle  
echo up to where she was suspended, and instantly started swearing under her breath.  
"Well, if it isn't the errant Cyber-killer. How are you X-1?" Jose had stepped into the light  
below Mikae, and he was gesturing for two Fixed Ideas to move what appeared to be a glass tub into  
position underneath her.  
"Come up here, and I'll show you. Just wondering, but don't you have problems in hanging  
onto beings like Six or myself?" Mikae smiled sweetly, but the lighting of the room turned it into  
a demonic leer. Jose just laughed.  
"Hanging... on?" Jose could barely gasp for breath around the laughing fit that had overtaken  
him, but he motioned for the two Ideas to remove the steel lid on the tub. The two large brutes easily  
lifted the metal lid off, but one stubbed its foot on the tub and dropped its side of the lid. The echoing  
bong from the metal hitting the stone floor only undercut a scream of pain from the poor, stupid  
greenskin that had dropped the lid on its foot.  
After hopping around for several minutes, the Fixed Idea had massaged the pain out of its  
foot, and it finished pulling away the lid, revealing a dull green pool of uncharged sustenance. Jose  
looked up at his captive, a lustful smile crawling all over his face, and causing Mikae's skin to crawl  
at the sight.  
"Now, uncharged sustenance does dick-all for keeping my lackeys alive, but the stuff in here  
will be doctored slightly." Jose walked over to the tub of dull green liquid, revealed a milk carton  
sized jug of fully-charged sustenance, and poured in the entire jug.  
"Now, this is at about two percent, so it won't hide anything, and besides, it'll take a while  
to destroy your clothes. Now, be nice, and let me have my fun." Jose snapped his fingers, letting the  
sharp noise echo through the room for a few seconds before a Fixed Idea walked in, holding a  
director's chair monogrammed with Jose's name on the back, and a two-foot tall tub of popcorn.  
"By the way, do you like my new jacket? It's second-hand, but it's just perfect for me."  
Mikae snarled several incoherent insults at Jose as she noticed that he was wearing her favourite  
jacket, but her mind rebelled at the implications of his earlier statements. *What the fuck is he going  
to do to me?* 


	10. Relative Calm

Inside Jose's Mansion, 4:52 PM   
  
Jose giggled again as Mikae tried to squirm free from her bonds, but she only succeeded in  
exhausting herself after almost eight minutes. "Had enough?"  
"Let me loose from this thing, and I'll show you when I've had enough." Mikae jerked her  
left arm forwards, rattling the heavy chains, which were binding her arms together above her head.  
"No. Now, ready for your little bath?"  
"I'd rather breathe the stuff. Don't forget that my lungs aren't immune."  
Jose smiled wickedly, then ordered the lone Idea out of the room while he pulled a remote  
control out of his pocket. The response was a rattling clank as Mikae dropped six inches towards the  
open vat of sustenance ten feet below her. *Ohhh shit. Where's the cavalry when you need it?  
C'mon, someone, get me out of here!!!* Jose alternated the two largest buttons on the remote,  
causing Mikae to bounce around painfully as her arms were stretched by the chains.  
"OWWW! If I get my hands on you, I'll make sure you'll only speak in falsetto!" Mikae  
continued to spew out threats that she would happily carry out if she had managed to get her hands  
on the sadistic little clone, but he remained out of her reach, sitting comfortably in his director's  
chair with a tub of popcorn, as he cackled wickedly. Tiring of stretching her arms for giggles, Jose  
ordered Mikae lowered towards the vat, ignoring her volleys of swearing. He actually began to hum  
to himself for a few minutes, but stopped when he noticed Mikae's feet just touching the vat.  
The pseudo-acidic substance had one other effect, which was less documented than its ability  
to burn holes through wood and other organic substances. Sustenance, when in contact with a  
substance it could corrode through due to its unique chemical composition, had the ability to cling  
to that substance until another force acted on the highly reactive liquid. Usually, that force is gravity,  
but if in large enough quantities, sustenance could literally crawl up almost anything organic.  
Mikae learned that the hard way, as the volume of sustenance in the vat was enough to begin  
creeping up her legs even though only the soles of her feet were immersed in the vat. As the barely-  
charged sustenance crept further up her legs, she felt her pants begin to dissolve, slowly revealing  
more skin to the leering clone. Jose got too impatient and smashed the button on the remote, dunking  
Mikae up to her waist in the dull green liquid.  
She hissed in pain as the liquid slowly seared off the remnants of her pants and underwear,  
making her skin feel like she had walked into a thicket of nettles. Looking at Jose prancing about the  
room in her jacket just made her angrier, but she was even more pissed when she noticed the dull  
red light in the corner, signalling that the security cameras in the room were on, and recording  
everything for future humiliation.  
Jose giggled again, then dunked Mikae up to her chin before pulling her out of the vat by the  
chains that were still wrapped around her arms. "Now we're getting somewhere! Let's see what else  
is hidden by the green stuff." Jose laughed maniacally as Mikae swore loudly, and at the tops of her  
lungs. However, he was cut short when something knocked on the door. Opening the door, he came  
face to kneecap with an exceptionally large Fixed Idea, and he instantly hollered at the Idea to leave  
him alone.  
The Idea scratched its head for a second, then said something. "Little blond guy want talk  
you. Said something 'bout more soldiers." Jose sighed, then ordered the Idea to guard the door and  
not let anyone through except for him. After Jose had left, the Idea carefully walked into the room,  
ducking to get through the door. It moved quickly to the security camera, unplugged it, and walked  
over to the now-greatly irritated Mikae. Ignoring her swearing, the Idea carefully shoved the vat of  
sustenance over to one side, allowing gravity to take over, making most of the sustenance clinging  
to her body splatter in gooey strings onto the floor.  
The Idea then carefully produced a key, and, ignoring the fact that its boots were beginning  
to melt, it unlocked the chains around her now-bare legs. It then reached up, unlocked the chains  
around her arms, and gently caught her as she dropped into its arms. Mikae's immediate response  
was to try and crush the Idea's throat, but it grabbed her hands at the wrists and chuckled.  
"Now, is that any way for you to react to a friend? Come on. I have some clothes  
waiting for you, but we'd better get most of the sustenance off you first."  
Mikae blinked for a few seconds, then squinted at the Idea holding her. "Mel? The last time  
I saw you, you were busy playing with Dr. Zack's sustenance generator. What are you doing here?"  
Mel grimaced. "My day job. Let's get you out of this place before Jose gets back." Mikae  
smiled, bowed slightly, and realized she was naked from the neck down. "Umm, about those  
clothes?" Mel nodded, studiously averting his eyes from Mikae.  
"This way. There's a shower room about two hundred yards down the hallway, on the  
left, and you can probably find some clothes in there. The package of clothes I left you is in the  
last guard room before the stairs, but it's currently surrounded by about seven Ideas. I forgot  
about the shift change." Mel shrugged slightly, then turned to leave the room. Mikae followed him,  
trying to keep to the shadows as much as possible. Before she left though, Mikae turned to Mel and  
raised an eyebrow as she cracked her knuckles.  
"What about you? It'd be very suspicious if I just waltzed out of here and didn't knock out  
the guard." Mel shook his head, then pointed at a rather low wooden beam.  
"Person run past, me chase. Crack head on wood." Mel grinned stupidly, then shooed Mikae  
down the hallway. Mikae sprinted down the hall to the shower room, quickly rinsed off the  
sustenance still clinging to her lower body, and started hammering on locker doors to open them.  
After smashing open five lockers, Mikae found what she wanted; clothes.  
She quickly pulled out a pair of tight-looking cutoff shorts, a super-tiny t-shirt, and mentally  
cursed when she saw that there was no underwear in the locker. Sighing, Mikae squirmed into the  
extremely tight shorts, wondering how she'd be able to face her mother with these clothes on. She  
pulled on the top next, and wasn't surprised to note that it barely covered herself to any amount of  
decency.  
*When mom sees me in this, I'll be lucky if she only grounds me for a century. Maybe I  
should take a few weapons along with me, if I'm lucky enough to stumble into the armoury on my  
way out.* Mikae grimaced slightly, then left the shower room, thankfully into a hallway that was  
empty except for the unconscious hulk of Mel lying next to the doorway to Jose's little torture room.  
Mentally thanking the fortune that the old Fixed Idea was so damn smart, and an ally of CyberSix,  
Mikae turned down the hallway, feeling a pang of guilt for not leaving something for Mel as a  
gesture of thanks, and, keeping to the shadows, she started moving along towards where she thought  
the exit was.  
Ten minutes later, Mikae opened the wrong door, said 'oh shit', and charged into the room  
to kill three Fixed Ideas that were all armed with machine guns. She easily snapped the first one's  
neck by running towards it, jumping over its shoulder, and slamming her foot into the base of its  
neck. The second one died almost as quickly when Mikae slammed her right hand underneath its  
ribs, literally gutting the huge being with her bare hand.  
The third Idea was just beginning to raise its gun when Mikae arrived in front of it, and  
smiling viciously, she jammed the tips of two fingers into the Idea's eyes. The Idea howled in pain,  
its fingers reflexively tightening around the machine gun's trigger, sending a long burst into the far  
wall before Mikae shattered its spine with a mean one-two punch and kick combo. The attack was  
so quick and brutal that the last empty shell casing from the machine gun hit the ground after the  
third Idea finished disintegrating.  
Mikae, feeling exceptionally spiteful, grabbed one of the full machine guns, picked up three  
extra magazines for it, and swiped all three vials from the clothes left in crumpled heaps. Mikae then  
looked around the room for anything of use, and grinned when she saw something that could be very  
useful. Mentally exulting, Mikae studied the map of the basement level of the mansion, figuring out  
where she was, and where the exit was. Just as she finished memorizing where the exit was, Mikae  
heard the alarms start to blare.  
"Well, I couldn't expect to get out of here totally undetected. Looks like I'm gonna have to  
kill some stuff on the way." Mikae grimaced, then patted the stock of the salvaged gun. *Well, time  
to pry into some of the neural training dear old Reichter gave me. Hopefully I remembered to take  
the safety off.*  
Mikae left the room, moving carefully, and managed to get to the stairwell leading to the  
ground floor without incident. Once she was on the ground floor however, she was almost instantly  
seen by three technos, which were almost immediately cut down by the extremely pissed off teen.  
The slashing burst of gunfire brought her to the attention of ten more technos and five Fixed Ideas,  
all of which were armed with rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and at least one sniper rifle.  
Mikae glanced around, and seeing an exit, she threw the machine gun through a large  
window, following the explosion of glass with her body as two rockets blew the stairwell into  
steaming rubble, and hopefully trapping Jose in the basement for a long time. Mikae dropped into  
a shoulder roll as she landed on the well-manicured lawn, and as soon as she got back onto her feet,  
she made tracks into the forest at close to mach two.  
By the time she slowed down, Mikae had put a good kilometre between herself and the  
mansion, and she was very close to a police blockade sitting on the dirt path leading to the place. She  
stood in the middle of the road, blushing almost beet red because of her current clothes, and  
exhausted from everything that had happened. Just as a cop stood up from behind the blockade with  
a picture in his hand, Mikae finally gave up and fainted.  
  
Somewhere over Lake Superior, 5:42 PM   
  
"Nnngh. That's the last time I trust one of those weenies in the vans." The woman sat up,  
groggy, tired, and sore. Listening carefully for a few minutes as she massaged her forehead, she  
heard the now-familiar noise of the stealth helicopter's rotors cutting through the air. Putting on a  
new headset, she instantly heard the pilot whistling an old song to himself.  
"It's been a while since I've heard anyone whistling anything near me. What's the song?"  
The pilot's whistling stuttered for a second when he heard her voice, but he responded by finishing  
the song, which took him about thirty seconds, then chuckling. "It's an oldie. I think it's called  
'Alone in the Universe' but I forgot the words about two years ago. So, do you wanna know where  
you're going for a week?"  
The woman shrugged, then noticed a duffel bag beside her. "Sure, never hurts." The response  
was a chuckle, and the pilot paused before speaking.  
"Well, you're going to be dropped off near a sleepy little town called Osgoode, and after  
walking south for about a hundred metres, you'll be at the front door of your grandparents house. I  
think you might wanna get changed into casual clothes before we arrived, and I took the liberty of  
buying a 'divorce Barbie' for your daughter. Please tell her to take care of it. The damn thing put me  
out three hundred." She giggled at the exasperation in the pilot's voice, then dropped a bit of a bomb  
on him.  
"I might wanna tell you that she uses barbies as target practice for her BB gun."  
"She uses a BB gun at six? When's she gonna be weaned to elephant rifles?"  
"Har de har har. She wants to be just like me, so grandpa started her target plinking with my  
old crap cannon three months ago. She'll graduate to his personal rifle when she's strong enough to  
stand up to the recoil."  
"Huh. Well, you'd better get changed soon. We have about an hour before we're at our  
destination." The woman grunted in response, then opened the duffel bag, which had a nice  
collection of casual clothes.  
"If you look, I'll kill you and fly this thing myself."  
"Okay. Wouldn't dream of it anyhow. I'm married."  
  
Police Headquarters, 6:12 PM   
  
"ENRIQUE!!! Can you tell me why you called off the search for that girl?" The captain  
looked at the huge detective, who smiled back.  
"Well, the search would still be on, if she hadn't walked out of the forest into one of the older  
blockades on the road there. Apparently, our little psychopathic goon in the mansion decided for a  
bit of abduction. She's currently at the hospital, under observation."  
The captain's eyebrows shot to the roof, and he waffled for a few seconds. "What? She  
reappeared? I thought that almost nobody came from that place unless they were genetically altered."  
Enrique nodded, then grabbed his coat. "Sorry cap, but I have to go and see if she's awake.  
After all, we need her statement so we can figure out what happened."  
"Yeah, whatever. Who's her doctor?"  
Enrique turned back towards his captain, his foot propped in the door to the stairwell. "The  
doc's Reba Pearce. You know, the person who's permanently stuck at the age of ten?"  
"Oh. Well, there goes that idea. I hope the rest of the week is uneventful."  
"Same here. Have a good day." Enrique left the room, leaving the captain standing beside  
a desk, looking pensive.  
  
Oroborus, 7:00 PM   
  
The farm hove into view as she walked down the half-kilometre long driveway, and she  
carefully readjusted her sunglasses so nobody would be freaked out by her appearance. Looking at  
her mutilated left hand, she sighed and carefully hid it in the half-open duffel bag she had slung over  
her left shoulder. As she passed an ancient oak tree, a small figure jumped from the old branches and  
landed in her arms with enough force to send both people onto the ground, raising a cloud of dust.  
"Mom! You're here! I'm sooo glad! Didja get me anything?" Sebena had firmly latched onto  
her mother's shoulders with her dirty little hands, accidentally dislodging the sunglasses so her red  
eye was exposed to her daughter.  
"Mom? What happened to your eye? Did it get hurt or something?" She nodded, and  
carefully replaced her sunglasses before hugging Sebena tightly to her chest.  
"Yeah. I'll be fine. So, what have you been up to for the last little while?" She stood up, still  
holding onto her daughter as she continued walking towards the old house.  
"Jimmy bugged me while I was using the BB, and he sorta got whacked in the hand. Oh yeah,  
granma and granpa miss you lots, and wanna see you as much as I do. Can we play a game soon?"  
"Yeah. Oh yeah, one of my friends got you something."  
Sebena's eyes sparkled at the idea of something new to play with, and she started to pester  
her mother about what it was. After almost two minutes, she gave up and put Sebena down. "Well,  
my friend got you a divorce Barbie."  
"Barbie? Ecchhh."  
She smiled. "My reaction as well. It also comes with Ken's house, his car, and his boat, so  
it's not a total loss. Besides, I managed to bring you a souvenir from out west for you."  
"Really? Is it another bullet?"  
"Nope. A toy crossbow." by this time, the two people had reached the expansive porch  
wrapping around the front of the house, and several other people, all around Sebena's age had torn  
out of the house and swarmed the two.  
The two didn't react too well, with Sebena being the louder in her protests. After about ten  
seconds of the younger girl hollering, John walked out from one of the four outbuildings, wiping his  
hands on an old rag. Seeing his granddaughter surrounded by a swarm of six-year olds, John waved  
and broke into a limping jog, heading towards her.  
When he arrived, he saw that she was already having the life squeezed out of her by Gudrun,  
so he waited for a few seconds, then looked at her, appraising her new appearance. The whitish-pink  
hair and sunglasses threw him off for a second, but when she shook his left hand, he also noticed the  
absence of two fingers on her left hand. "Hey kiddo. You seem to have stretched since the last time  
I saw you."  
"Not likely grandpa. Can we go inside before the mosquitoes get hungry again?"She gently  
disengaged several children from her thighs, and picked up Sebena again. John nodded at the  
question, and told the kids to get inside before the bugs ate them alive. After all the children had  
entered the house, the three older people walked in, talking about life and what's been going on since  
her last visit.  
The three people sat down in the kitchen, talking and playing cards as Gudrun fussed over  
her granddaughter, speaking in her native language. "Seh dich an, du bist bloss noch haut und  
knochen und kaum etwas anders"  
"Grandma, I know I'm skin and bones because I've been too busy to eat properly. As for  
everything else, you know I regret being away from my family, but I did sign a non-disclosure  
agreement with the company I work for."  
Gudrun switched back to English, and continued to berate her for leaving them in the dark,  
as well as abandoning her daughter onto a pair of people who were easily in their late seventies. John  
just chuckled as Gudrun eventually stopped.  
"Got any eights?" John continued with the card game that had been interrupted by Gudrun's  
rant.  
"Nope. Go fish. So, wanna know why my eye's like this? By the way, got any sixes?"  
John paused as he looked through his rather sizeable hand, then nodded. "Yes to both. Here's  
your six, and please spill the beans about your eye."  
"Thanks grandpa. Last card. Anyhow, I got pummelled by a hail storm while trying to get  
some photos of a Siberian tiger, and one of the stones managed to smash my sunglasses. The shards  
went right into my eye, and totally destroyed my vision in the eye. Actually, I could've gotten it  
fixed, but it took too long to get to a hospital with staff that could do the repairs. By the time I got  
to one, my eye was useless. This thing is mainly for aesthetics, but it has a very small camera in it  
that's much better than that old lump I used to lug around with me."  
"Heh. Well, at least one of your eyes still looks good. Got any tens?"  
She smiled. "Go fish. So, will I have to hide in the loft again?"  
Gudrun piped up as she planted a plate on top of the deck of cards. "No. You'll get the  
newest outbuilding. Now, eat! You're too skinny for your own good." Gudrun planted at least three  
eggs on the plate, adding a side of fried potato slices and a huge glass of orange juice to the set.  
"Gee thanks. I'm only a hundred-fifteen, and it's not that bad as a weight."  
"Ha! If you want to be one of those damn super-models that fly away if you sneeze near  
them." All three chuckled, and she started to dig into the rather sizeable meal.  
"Y'know grandma, this has been the only food I've had since about three this morning, not  
counting that slime called airline food. I've been in the air for almost twelve hours today, and it's  
not pretty."  
"Well, all the more reason for you to fill your hollow legs. Eat!" Gudrun quickly hijacked  
the card resting in her granddaughter's hand, won the game, and ragged at her for a few more  
minutes until she started eating.  
About twenty minutes later, she retired from the main house and walked over to the farthest  
outbuilding, where a comfortable bed was waiting. Gudrun and John watched from the porch,  
following her path with their eyes as they held hands.  
John looked down at his wife, smiled, and led her back inside after the light outside the  
building flickered out. *After forty-five years of being married to my Goodie, I can't believe that  
we're still together and living a good life, doing what we love. If only Sel retired from her job and  
settled down with us. She loves children as much as we do, despite what her father did to her. Maybe  
we should call in a few favours with Charlie. Well, I'll talk to her about it tomorrow, but I'm glad  
she'll be able to stick around for a few days at least.  
*Heck, maybe I'll be able to finish her present before she leaves this time. After all, a true  
rifle is too bulky for her job, so this modified gun could help her greatly.* John sighed slightly,  
shook his head, and closed the front door before a thumb-sized mosquito could get to him. Two  
minutes later, the light beside the door switched off, and the old farm fell into slumber as stars  
twinkled above the old buildings. 


	11. Peace, Quiet, and Family

Oroborous, 4:51 AM   
  
Long before the sun appeared over the horizon, a lone figure was sitting on a familiar stone  
at the top of an old esker. She had been sitting there long enough for the damp chill in the air to  
migrate to her bones. Cross-legged, she saw the first rays begin to streak the skies above her with   
dull cherry light, slowly fading to a duller, bloody hue. As the light began to crawl across the land,  
staining the tilled fields with the same shade of red, it appeared like the earth itself was bleeding in  
sympathy.  
"Every morning since you were Seven, and you'll still be sitting on this damn rock. I'd be  
surprised if you haven't worn a groove into the damn thing." She turned slightly, looking with  
narrowed eyes at the lanky form standing beside her. The form took two steps towards her, then sat  
down so his thigh was touching hers. She instinctively shied away from the physical contact, flashes  
of remembered pain swirling through her mind.  
"Go away." She hugged herself tightly, but he didn't get the hint. Instead, he tried to get  
closer to her, but was stopped when she pressed the heel of her right hand into his sternum. "I said:  
go away." He stopped moving, and instead he looked at her, trying to see her eyes through the dull  
sunglasses she was wearing.  
"Bad idea. Tell me why you're here, then get away from me." He looked at her again, then  
reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out something that had been crumpled in his hand, placed  
it on her right thigh, and stood up.  
"Read it. You might be interested." He then began walking away, leaving her to sit there,  
alone once again. She glanced at the crumpled object lying on her leg, but didn't reach for it until  
the light had shifted from dull red to a more mellow shade of yellow-orange. Only then did she pick  
up the object, slipping it into a pocket in her baggy shirt. Looking at the sky, she sighed, then listened  
carefully as the distant buildings began to show signs of life.  
Pulling on a pair of ratty-looking gloves, she flexed her fingers, then unfolded herself from  
her sitting position. Slowly getting off the rock, she began a series of simple exercises, primarily a  
mix between karate and shadow-boxing. For almost an hour, she punched and kicked at a phantom,  
working up a bit of a sweat. After she finished the last set in the exercise, she leaned against the  
stone, panting slightly from her exertions.  
At that moment, she realized that someone was sitting on the rock, and that someone was  
about to latch onto her neck with a bearhug. Sighing, she leaned back farther, and her head landed  
in the person's lap. "Hi mom! How long have you been out here?"  
"Before Four. How'd you get here so quickly, especially without me noticing you?" She sat  
up, and motioned for Sebena to slide over so she could sit beside the smaller girl.  
"Not telling." Sebena cuddled closer to her mom, marvelling at the feeling of coiled energy  
resting inside her mother's arms.  
"Your treehouse is in that tree over there isn't it? That's how you got out here without me  
seeing you."  
"Busted. By the way, would you mind if I coloured my hair?"  
"Damn right I would. No colouring your hair until you're at least old enough to gather the  
attention of boys without screaming about cooties." She smiled, then pulled a long strand of her own  
hair around so she could look at it. "Y'know, I never really liked my old hair colour. Y' want a few  
strands?" Sebena's only response was a giggle and a playful prod to her shoulder.  
"Naaahhh. I already have enough stuff of yours. Grandpa wanted to see you when you woke  
up, but you had already went out for something."  
"Even I want to sit on my rock every once in a while. Grandpa has his, after all." She pointed  
behind her, at a misshapen rock, lying half-buried next to an old and warped oak tree that barely  
topped twelve feet. Getting up, she reached out to her daughter and latched onto the small hand that  
was offered. "Come on, it's time I got back to the house before Grandma makes her waffles."  
"Aww, the waffles are good, but can't we stay out here? I just wanna have fun." Sebena  
pouted, but stopped when she was swept up in a hug. Responding quickly, she returned the hug,  
squirmed free, and skipped twenty metres down the worn pathway towards the old farm. Pausing,  
Sebena looked carefully at her mother, then pointed at the old buildings.  
"Alright. I'm coming. Now, remind me why Grandma would be making waffles." She started  
walking down the path, avoiding the thicket of brambles resting in front of a centuries-old forest that  
was resting just inside the fence line. Sebena just stayed out of her reach, moving quickly down the  
pathway. However, by the time the path had widened out to an old tractor trail, Sebena had tired of  
her little game, and ended up sitting on her mother's shoulders.  
Soon, the two returned to the complex of buildings, looking at the old hulking farmhouse that  
had survived almost two hundred years of erosion. Just as the two wove their way to the front steps,  
the front door opened quietly, and Gudrun's matronly bulk filled the doorway like some improbable  
barrier. "Ach! So that's where you ran off to! Back at your little hidey-hole, eh kiddo? Well, come  
inside before you freeze and get some food in you. Knowing your habits tells me you haven't eaten  
since I forced you to have something yesterday, and you probably wouldn't have eaten today without  
the intervention of your daughter."  
She shot a glare at her daughter, who was busily playing with some of her waist-length hair.  
"Hey, when Grandma wants someone to do something, we do it because we love her." She sighed,  
put Sebena down, and entered the house for some of grandma's world-class waffles.  
  
Imperial Hotel, 7:20 AM   
  
Wilson groaned, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and idly swatted a roach into the opposite  
wall. The medium-sized insect struggled for a moment after its impact, then died slowly in a heap  
of its own entrails. Wilson stood up, looking at his watch, then he left his room and started walking  
towards the facilities. After completing the necessary, he went back to his room just in time to hear  
his cellphone blaring away.  
"Huh. Well, let's see who wants to bug me." Wilson grabbed the phone, hit the talk button,  
and growled into the mouthpiece. "Yeah, this is Wilson."  
The response was definitely not what he expected. "Ah, so that's the name of my newest  
antagonist. Well, 'Wilson' I'm gonna be your worst nightmare."  
"Riiight. Say that to the teen that escaped your clutches yesterday. Oh yeah, thanks for all the  
C-8 grenades. They'll be put to good use." Wilson smiled as he carefully put the phone down, letting  
the volleys of foul invective fill the air as he chuckled. When the caller stopped, Wilson picked up  
the phone again and spoke, quite calmly. "Is that it? My grandmother is more inventive in her  
swearing, and you're gonna be the miserable little worm soon enough. Have a good day, bitch."  
Wilson disconnected, letting his mysterious caller sputter into a dial tone.  
Chuckling, Wilson knocked on the thin wall between his room and Jenny's. The response  
was a dull thump, and three knocks a few seconds later. Wilson smiled, then walked from his room   
over to his friend's.  
Knocking on the door, he waited for a few seconds, then opened it. "Boo. Jenny, get everyone  
into the conference room in ten minutes, okay?" The confirmation was a towel thrown into his face,  
with several dozen swearwords interspersed with statements of being a pervert following.  
"Now, that just hurts. I haven't seen anything that I haven't before, and you are easy on the  
eyes." Wilson chuckled, tossed the towel back into the room, then walked down to the conference  
room. True to his orders, ten minutes later the room was filled with the entire team. After they had  
settled down, Wilson smiled, looking like a bear that had gone without food for a good week.  
"Good, you're all here. Now, we have two things on the agenda. Number one, the boss should  
be here next week, but she may be bringing along some unwanted attention as well." Wilson let that  
message sink in, and, noting the concern on each member's faces, he jumped into the second part.  
"Also, our position here's compromised. We're moving to another location."  
He ignored the grumbles, applauded the cheers, and told everyone to pack. Most of them  
went off with gusto, and just as he was about to leave, the door was closed by a rather pale arm.  
Sighing, he turned to look at whoever had closed the door, and he saw that the team had managed  
to pull another prank on him. This time, they had managed to dump at least three packs of lust dust   
into Jenny's coffee, and the young member of the team was about to commit a rather sizeable breach  
of conduct.  
Outside, half the team was holding the doors closed, the other half was listening in, and they  
were all trying to keep from laughing too hard.  
  
Somewhere Near New LA., 10:40 AM, (PST)   
  
The room was dark, lit only by the dull bluish glow of cathode-ray screens. Silhouetted by  
the dim glow, a faint form worked feverishly, tapping madly on a beat-up keyboard. Chuckling to  
itself, the form looked at a digital readout displayed on one of the screens, then raised an eyebrow  
when the screen flashed red. Tapping the screen with one long, spider-like finger, it seemed to smile  
as the screen continued to flash red light over that side of the room.  
On the screen was a wireframe of a woman, of which three parts were flashing. However,  
the part that concerned the viewer was a small line of text saying 'Dumaine v. 2.3 offline.' Silent for  
a few minutes, the being sighed slightly, then turned to the larger monitor in the centre of the row.  
Looking at the monitor, the being started to laugh, long and hard.  
  
Undisclosed Location, 8:40 AM   
  
Dr. Sorbie swore under his breath as he carefully removed the third gel pack from the  
woman's body, and mentally thanked providence that the packs were only under the skin instead of  
embedded in areas that were difficult to access. This pack had been embedded in her left calf, and  
after Sorbie finished removing it, the pack was unceremoniously dropped into a kidney-shaped pan,  
next to the two he had removed from each of the woman's thighs.  
*How many more does she have? Dammit! I should've retired four years ago! The last major  
operation I did was that skeletal replacement on Sel, and that was done to save her life.* Sorbie  
sighed, then turned back to his unconscious subject. He carefully adjusted a scanning system that had  
been helping him track where the damned packs were, and he found the next one rather easily. Right  
behind the person's navel, a rather sizable pack rested, ready to disgorge its explosive payload into  
its unwilling victim.  
Cursing under his breath, Sorbie carefully excised the pack through a thin slit he made in the  
woman's stomach, then heard a faint hissing. As he had finished removing the pack, it had somehow  
caught on something, tearing open the malleable 'skin' and slowly letting the thick gel drip out onto  
his bloody gloves. Sorbie moved with a speed that many younger men could only dream of as he  
tossed the wrecked pack into the corner of the room, stripping off his contaminated gloves at the  
same time and sending them flying into a different corner.  
The gel on the gloves detonated, flaring up into a blast of light and heat that smashed the door  
to the operating room off its hinges. Sorbie had covered his patient's body with his own, knowing  
that he could at least make a difference before the larger pack blew the entire room to bits. However  
it wasn't necessary for such a degree of self-sacrifice as someone ran into the room, grabbed the  
leaking pack, and dumped it down the bio-hazard chute that Sorbie had missed when he had thrown  
the thing away. Less than two seconds later, the pack blew up, shaking the room.  
"My god. That's what I call overkill. And she has how many packs left?" Sorbie got up,  
moved away from the still-unconscious woman, and sighed as he used the scanner to see if there  
were any packs remaining. Thankfully, there were none, and Dr. Sorbie shut down the scanner before  
calling in two nurses to do any follow-up exams and relocation.  
  
Jose's Mansion, 10:47 AM   
  
"You know, I'm beginning to wonder if these things will work." Jose stood on a footstool,  
carefully adjusting one of the cybernetic components on the Augmented Fixed Idea. Sighing irritably,  
he finished his adjustments, then hopped off the stool. Walking over to a computer, he activated a  
program, and sat back as the program activated the cybernetics implanted in the four Ideas. Each Idea  
stood up jerkily, but the augmentations made them easily strong enough to snap the flexible titanium  
straps that had held them down.  
Each Idea stretched to its full height of eight or nine feet, then looked at Jose with their  
unnatural red eyes. "Program... Activated. Awaiting Instructions." Jose cackled after the Ideas  
finished speaking, then looked at a map of the city he had tacked up on the wall.  
"Alright, your mission is to wreak havoc. Kill as many civilians as possible, any way  
possible. Also, when the law enforcement shows up, your second objective is to destroy as many  
police vehicles as possible. Got that?" All four nodded in unison, then, showing a surprising amount  
of initiative, each one instantly trooped into the armoury, where they armed themselves with heavy  
slug-throwers which had reputations for punching through two inches of steel plate at close range.  
The four Augmented Ideas then trooped out of the mansion, walking towards the city with murder  
on their minds.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital, 12:37 PM   
  
Reba walked into the miniward, looking slightly pissed as she finished hollering at another  
resident. Inside the ward was only one occupant, but she had already turned the air purple with  
enough invective to cause the short doctor to blush.  
"Well, you seem to be healthy. So, do you wanna get out of here before something bad  
happens?" Mikae grinned at the slightly exasperated tone barely hidden by a mask of cheerfulness,  
and nodded enthusiastically.  
"Damn right I'm ready to get out of here. So, can I leave?" Mikae tried, and failed  
(miserably), to keep the excitement out of her voice, but it bled through anyhow, causing her doctor  
to smile slightly.  
"As soon as your mother gets here. Just hang on, get your 'clothes' on, and get ready to face  
the music." Reba chuckled as Mikae once again purpled the air with a volley of invective. Reba  
moved over to the small 'closet' in the room and pulled out the tiny tee and super-tight pants. "I'll  
wait for your mom to see you 'kay? After all, I'm wondering how long she'll ground you for."  
Mikae flipped Reba the middle finger, then got out of the bed, motioned the diminutive  
doctor to turn around, and struggled into the shorts and shirt. "Blah. This is just too damn  
aggravating. Hey! No laughing." Mikae was pointing one of her slim fingers at Reba, who was trying  
hard not to laugh at the almost Lori-like appearance of Mikae in her current clothes.  
"I'm trying not to *mmmph* laugh too *snerk* much, but you *giggle* look too funny."  
Reba gave up, succumbing to gales of laughter as Mikae grumped for a few minutes. Just as Reba  
was about to pull out a small camera, Mikae's mother walked into the room, saw her daughter, and  
flushed beet red up to her hairline.  
"Mikae Kreubens! What in the name of the Holy Virgin are you doing wearing clothes like  
that? Do you want to be called a slut for the rest of your life?" Mikae's reaction was predictable,  
entertaining to innocent observers, and loaded with more swearing than a shipful of randy Russian  
sailors. Mikae's mother grinned, looking at Reba, who was barely keeping from falling over in  
laughter.  
"Well, she seems to be in good health. Now young lady, you're grounded for the rest of the  
year." Sarah looked at Mikae and smiled like a cat that had eaten a dozen canaries.  
"Whaaattt?!? Mooommm!!! Dammit, I was abducted from school! What did you expect?  
Didja want me to escape stark naked? Or didja want me to just hang around, waiting to be raped by  
a stunted little bastard with a superiority complex?" Mikae managed to convince her mother to drop  
the grounding down to an extra week, primarily by hollering about the injustice of it all.  
Eventually, the two left the hospital after being given a clean bill of health, and the two  
started to bounce jokes off of each other as they went home. 


	12. A Death in the Family

North Outskirts of Meridiana, 4:20 AM   
  
Four shadows stood in an alleyway, glancing carefully in all the cardinal directions that were  
common knowledge to every genetically enhanced or engineered being in the city. Slowly, but with  
increasing speed, the four shadows dispersed, moving exceedingly quickly. Several minutes later,  
one shadow appeared outside a small suburban house, and walked towards the medium-sized car  
sitting in the driveway. Twenty seconds later, the car was smashed into twisted scraps of metal and  
glass, waking up everyone in a hundred yard radius.  
The family that owned the car had all awakened, and they had pressed their faces to the large  
picture window near the front door, but they could see almost nothing. A slightly darker shadow  
moved slowly, raising what looked like an extra-thick tree branch at the window, but when the  
branch spouted a huge blast of flame, the family instantly tried to duck and cover before the stinger  
rocket smashed into the window.  
They failed. The rocket hit the window, punching through and into the chest of the father.  
The subsequent explosion splattered the poor person all over his family, who were shredded into  
gobbets of meat by the flying metal and bone. The window added to the destruction, sending razored  
edges of glass through the room, acting like a storm of knife blades caught in a tornado. Finally, the  
explosive payload of the rocket set fire to almost everything burnable inside the room, which soon  
spread to engulf the entire house.  
The shadowy being then turned from the blazing home, letting the fire reveal that it was  
about eight feet tall, armed to the teeth, and probably very pissed off. In three other parts of the city,  
the same thing was happening as the Augmented Fixed Ideas tore through other buildings, trying to  
draw out the ones who remained thorns in their master's side.  
Cybersix was about two kilometres to the south but was distracted by a group of Fixed Ideas  
that were trying to shoot at her, Mikae was still grounded, and Data 7 was asleep on top of Julian's  
houseboat. There was one thing that responded to the sudden attacks, and the four APCs that tore  
off towards the now-visible clouds of smoke were packed with people, angry and ready to kill  
something green and ugly. Wilson was in the first APC moving, and he was already holding his  
gauss rifle in one hand as he looked through the gunner's viewport at the pall of smoke two  
kilometres ahead of him. Also, instead of just standing there, he was yelling through a radio link to  
the other APCs to split up and investigate the other three areas that had explosions nearby.  
Less than ten minutes later, the APC stopped and the five members of the team quickly  
clambered out only to stare agape at the hideous devastation in front of them. Twelve houses were  
burning furiously, as well as two police cars, three fire engines, and a milk truck. Standing on an  
unburned patch of ground was the perpetrator, who slowly turned towards the small group, raising  
an M-66 rocket launcher onto its right shoulder.  
Wilson instantly opened up with his rifle, simultaneously activating his armour to full power  
as the large being fired its first rocket. The rocket was exceedingly well aimed, and the blast warped  
the APC's door permanently shut. Wilson was bowled over by the blast, stunning him for a second,  
but he watched as the line of gauss slugs stitched their way up the street, shattering pavement as it   
slammed up into the being's right arm. Instead of amputating the being's arm at the shoulder  
however, the three slugs that hit only jerked the creature's arm backwards, sending the second rocket  
into the shattered hulk of one of the fire trucks.  
The other four members of the team had already dispersed by the time Wilson got back onto  
his feet, and crouching slightly in order to create a lower profile, he fired another burst at the  
creature. The creature fired simultaneously, sending a rocket straight at Wilson as his gun clicked  
on an empty chamber.  
*Oh fuck.* He dodged towards the fire engine, trying to put some twisted metal between  
himself and the ten-kilo explosive that was hurtling towards him at mach two. Wilson succeeded in  
that, and heard his team open fire at the creature as the rocket exploded less than ten feet away from  
him. Shrapnel sprayed everywhere, trying to seek something soft to penetrate and damage. The only  
thing the explosion found was Wilson's rifle, still tightly gripped in his right hand. Three chunks of  
jagged metal slammed into the rifle's capacitor, causing the system to go into an uncontrolled  
discharge.  
The voltage that was released caused the gun to shatter into its component pieces, and about  
seventeen gigavolts launched their way up into Wilson's body. He screamed in pain as the electrical  
charge actually managed to roast his right hand down to the bones even through the armour. As he  
clutched at his destroyed hand, he heard the dull crunching as something extremely heavy slowly  
walked towards where he was. Mentally cursing about everything that had gone wrong, Wilson stood  
up and got his armour to re-form itself into its combat system, extruding two five-foot long metallic  
spikes from his wrists.  
Looking around the destroyed truck, Wilson saw nothing for a few seconds, but his vision  
quickly refocused when a green fist the size of his head snapped his head around, sending a spume  
of blood outwards as Wilson bit through his lower lip. Stunned again, he could do nothing as another   
giant fist picked him up by grabbing onto his right shoulder, squeezing strongly enough to pulverize  
his collarbone and shoulder blade without exerting too much effort.  
Wilson looked at the heavily scarred face in front of him, blankly noticing the pockmarks  
where the gauss slugs had punched through the creature's face as it smiled. He brought his left arm  
around, ignoring the nerves shrieking in agony as he drove the spike deep into the creature's lower  
gut. The creature only smiled again, then grabbed his left forearm with its free hand and squeezed.  
It totally crushed his forearm, then pulled outwards, slowly stretching Wilson's arm outwards. The  
creature had a good two feet of reach on him though, and it had fully extended its arm, tearing  
Wilson's left arm off at the shoulder.  
Wilson was almost unconscious as he felt his skin and muscles tear, as well as feeling the  
bone splinter as his arm was stretched beyond the breaking point. The creature looked at him, then  
hefted his still-twitching arm and brought it down on his head. Wilson felt nothing, but the last thing  
echoing in his ears was a dull crunch. The other four members of the team, seeing their commander  
and best friend die horribly, blasted the creature with enough firepower to totally smash a Nazi tank  
brigade. After sustaining the rate of fire for almost two minutes, the creature slowly tottered, then  
collapsed to its knees before landing on its face with a thunderous crash.  
All four members, instead of leaving the creature alone, proceeded to empty the remnants of  
their ammunition into the backs of the creature's head. The creature didn't flash into vapour, and one  
of the members started kicking the corpse heavily in the ribs. The other three pried open the door to  
th APC, and carefully placed Wilson's mutilated body inside the ten-ton vehicle. After that was  
done, the ranking survivor called the other teams to see if there were any casualties. There were  
none, but the other three creatures had all escaped after taking incredible amounts of punishment.  
Jenny, as acting commander, sent out an APB for the three survivors of the raids, then called  
the HQ in North America.  
  
Undisclosed Location, 5:15 AM   
  
Vincent rolled out of bed, looking like he had aged about twenty years as he stumbled over  
to the video screen that doubled as a communication system. Touching a button, he activated the  
comm system, then stared blankly at the screen when Jenny's concerned face popped up in a burst  
of static.  
"Well, it seems that you're as badly wrecked as I feel. Listen up Vincent. We need  
reinforcements, and fast."  
Vincent woke up completely, looking at the young lieutenant. "Who died?"  
Jenny looked distinctly uncomfortable, and the screen started to fuzz out at the edges as the  
signal began to break up. "Wilson. That's why we need reinforcements. Send Se-*bvzzttt*-na  
ASAP."  
The signal broke apart, and Vincent's face turned white. Speaking to himself, he stood in the  
room, and stared at the square of static in front of him. "Wilson? Dead? No way. He was an old-  
timer here when I arrived, and I know he also went through twenty years of the US military. Maybe  
I should take a look at the records for what he did."  
Vincent walked over to a computer sitting on his room's desk, and after starting it up, he  
initiated a search for all of Wilson's achievements. In less than twenty minutes, he had a list of all  
the medals Wilson had acquired when he was in the military, and the list was impressive.  
"My god. Congressional Medal of Honour, three Silver Stars for destroying the same amount  
of fighters with only a machine gun, six purple hearts, three campaign ribbons, and several citations  
for bravery in the face of an overwhelming force. If he is dead, than we'll have lost one of the best."  
Vincent sighed, then got changed into his morning clothes so he could break the bad news  
to the boss.  
  
Oroborus, 7:30 AM   
  
Sebena and her mother were sitting on the couch, playing an old game on an even older  
Playstation. Just as Sebena once again laid the smackdown on her mother in the game, the cellphone  
sitting beside the old grey box went off with a sharp trill.  
Mentally cursing, she picked up the phone, pressed the talk button, and wedged the phone  
between her collarbone and her ear as she continued to play against her daughter. "Yeah, what's up?"  
"Bad news boss babe. You've been recalled for immediate deployment."  
She snorted, and managed to defeat her daughter with a flurry of button taps. "In your  
dreams. 'Nother game kiddo?"  
"Sebena smiled as they set up another match in the game, while she listened to the response  
over the phone. "Sorry, but this is real. They want you in Meridiana in less than two days, and it'll  
take you a good ten hours to fly there with the chopper."  
"So? Send someone else. I'm on leave for another five days. Now stop bothering me."  
"I didn't want to say this, but they need you. Wilson bought it." That stopped her in her  
tracks, and Sebena quickly pummelled her into submission as she tried to make sense of what she  
had just heard.  
"What?"  
"You heard me. Beta team's leaderless. Now, get down there and try to salvage something  
into working order!" The person on the other end of the line hung up, most likely snarling incoherent  
curses into the air at the same time.  
"Oh my god." She looked at Sebena, turned off the cellphone, and sighed. "Sorry babe, but  
my vacation just got cut short, and I hate it more than you do."  
"Aw mom! What happened now? I'm sick of you running all over the world."  
She sighed and turned off the Playstation. "Well, I think I can get you to come with me, but  
it's probably gonna be dangerous."  
"Danger? Pfft." Sebena giggled, then hugged her mother.  
"Well, this is serious. I don't want you hurt, especially as someone dear to us has just died."  
Sebena nearly recoiled when the words were uttered, and they seemed to hang in the air like   
knives. "Wh-what? Someone died? Who?"  
She choked up, feeling tears threatening to spill down her face as she spoke. "Wilson."  
Sebena's reaction was one of horror mixed with sympathy, showing a maturity that was  
usually hidden by her lack of height as well as her large blue eyes. "Uncle Wilson? Big Will? No  
way! You're pulling my leg aren't you? Aren't you?!? Please tell me you're joking mom."  
Her response was to envelop Sebena in her arms and give her daughter a long hug, tears  
spilling down her face as the two started to cry. Twenty minutes later, they heard the distinctive noise  
of the stealth helicopter and She left to tell her grandparents what had happened.  
Half an hour later, Sebena and her mother boarded the helicopter, with promises that they  
would stay alive for at least another twenty years. The chopper then jerked upwards, rising to about  
twenty metres above the ground, then took off towards the south at top speed. 


	13. New Arrival, Redux

Over Meridiana, 2:27 AM   
  
"Hey. Wake up, kiddo. We're about five minutes away from landing." The dull vibration of  
the helicopter's rotors had lulled Sebena to sleep, and it had gathered the side effect of the pilot  
mentally thanking providence that Sebena hadn't been wired on chocolate-covered coffee beans  
earlier.  
"Mhggg. Mom? We there yet?" Sebena sat up, rubbing her eyes as she tilted the oversized  
crash helmet back on her head.  
"Look down through the window on your right, and you'll see the city. Now, it'll take about  
five more minutes, then we'll get to a nice, four-star hotel to sleep until about ten in the morning."  
She leaned back in the jumpseat between the pilot's seat and the co-pilot's seat, watching Sebena  
as the young girl stared, awestruck as the lights of the city slowly increased in size as the pilot  
lowered the quiet chopper towards the lit helipad on the roof of the hotel that had been reserved for  
the two passengers.  
With a short jolt, the chopper landed, quickly followed by the side door opening and three  
duffel bags being tossed out onto the rough tar roof. After the two passengers got out, the door  
closed, and the helicopter lifted jerkily, then headed towards the airport. "Well, let's get our stuff and  
register at the desk. Wanna play with the express elevator?"  
"Well... yeah!" They picked up all three bags, then started walking towards the small shack-  
like building that housed the express elevator to the ground floor of the thirty-story building. Less  
than five minutes later, including a bit of interesting hacking to get around the security panel on the  
roof, the two left the elevator, walked over to the desk, and waited for the night clerk to notice them.  
Soon enough, he did notice the young woman wearing a black greatcoat standing in front of  
the desk, and pasting a leer on his face, he walked over to her. "Yes? How can I help you?"  
"Well, you can help by looking through the damn register for a Mrs. D'Arnise and  
companion. After all, My cellphone signal got through, and I did reserve the penthouse." The clerk,  
whose eyes were beginning to range up and down her body, tore his eyes away from her and started  
leafing through the registry book.  
"Well, you'd most likely be in our last entry, and... yep! Here it is. The price for the room is  
three hundred a day, not counting TV and minibar costs. The first day has to be paid in advance,  
though. Of course, if you're short on cash, I could always... spot you a loan in return for a... favour."  
She frowned, then pulled out three crisp, grey, hundred dollar bills. "Well, three hundred.  
Here it is in Canadian. Gimme my change before I decide to rearrange your face."  
The reaction was almost priceless, especially as Sebena got bored standing there, and started  
to chuck pennies at the clerk's oversized forehead. "Well, three hundred Canadian, that's-" *clink*  
"Ow! Four-fifty, so you get-" *clink* "Hey! One-fifty back." *clink, clink, clink* "Ouch! Does she  
ever miss?"  
"No. Hand over the key or I'll give her some quarters." The clerk grumbled a bit, then  
thought better of it when a penny, expertly lobbed, smacked him in the ear hard enough to leave a  
welt, followed by a childish giggle. Growling like an angry wolf, he tossed the required key over to  
the woman, who suddenly reached out, grabbed the key from midair, and at the same time also  
caught a penny that was going to smack the clerk right between the eyes.  
"Oh yes, set a wake-up call for the penthouse at ten-thirty AM. We just flew in using the  
rooftop helipad as well, and you'll need someone to repair the security bypass I rigged to get down  
here."  
The reaction was an incredulous "Whaaattt?!?", followed by the elevator doors closing  
quietly. After pushing the button to go to the penthouse, followed quickly by the elevator rising to  
the thirtieth floor, the two extremely tired and saddened people walked into the most opulent room  
they had ever seen.  
"Wow. Now, where's the beds? I just wanna crash for a month." Sebena pointed in the  
general direction of the bedroom, then followed her exhausted mother. When they had entered the  
room, and upon seeing the two immensely plush beds, they just crashed into their respective beds,  
landing face first into mounds of pillows. Less than twenty seconds later, the two were asleep, and  
stayed that way until the prearranged wake-up call.  
  
The Mayor's Office, 9:30 AM   
  
"So, you're telling me that the leader of those green-skinned freaks has managed to somehow  
'augment' his basic grunts into something that could easily stand up to your heavy weapons? And  
one of them actually killed your commanding officer? Why are you telling me this?"  
Jenny sighed, and scrubbed at her face with one hand. "Sir, I'm sorry but I've been awake  
for almost forty hours straight, and my brain's turned into something approximating mush. Now,  
Wilson had only one condition on where he was going to be buried, and considering that we can't  
fulfill his wish due to some transportation snarls, we're asking for a small plot of land in the  
graveyard near Police Headquarters. If any other members of the teams die, we would also like to  
have them buried in the same graveyard."  
The mayor looked at the small woman who was the interim commander of the currently  
demoralized specialty team. "Alright. You'll get your wish. When's your new commander coming  
in?"  
"She's already here. If you were up at two-thirty this morning, you would have heard a  
helicopter land on that new hotel downtown. She's there with her daughter, and is probably armed  
to the teeth."  
"Really? Is she considered sane?" The last part was spoken almost conspiratorially, but the  
response was totally unexpected.  
"Possibly. I wouldn't put it past her to be a danger to society though, especially when  
someone threatens her kid. There was one incident about seven months ago when five or six  
unknown assassins tried to kill her, and abduct her child for some reason. They stayed unknown  
because she literally ripped them to shreds."  
The mayor almost recoiled when he heard the self-satisfied edge in Jenny's voice, but  
stopped himself. "Okay. You've told me enough. Now, when will I meet her?"  
"The funeral, which will be tomorrow, at about six in the evening. Be there okay?" Jenny  
then stood, shook the mayor's hand, and walked out of the building. The mayor just sat there,  
watching the trim young woman walk away, and wished he was twenty years younger as he stroked  
his greying beard. Eventually, he sighed, picked up the phone, and started to cut through the red tape  
so everything could be ready by the following evening.  
  
Meridiana High School, 10:00 AM   
  
Mikae looked carefully around the corner of the hallway, feeling horribly self-conscious  
without her battered leather jacket to hide her arms. Instead, she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt  
that was slightly thin, so she wouldn't boil in her own juices when lunch hour turned the school into  
a sauna.  
*Great. I escape from the clone's clutches, only to be mocked until I find a new jacket to  
replace the one that little bastard stole from me. Well, it could be worse. After all, I still have my  
virginity intact.* Mikae was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts when someone slammed their arms  
onto her shoulders, surprising and temporarily stunning her.  
Turning around, she nearly knocked Lori's block off, but the gang leader only smiled and  
danced back out of Mikae's reach. "You're really asking for me to apply some first-degree murder  
to you someday, aren't you Lori?"  
Lori grinned, then gave Mikae a CD. "Well, I heard you grumbling all the way through  
English class, so I thought that I'd lend you one of my CDs so you could calm down. By the way,  
I like the shirt. Much better than that ratty old lump of leather you call a jacket that you've been  
wearing for the last year and a half."  
Mikae snorted, but accepted the CD. "Well, I happen to like my jacket, but it was stolen."  
Lori smiled slightly, then looked at her younger counterpart. "It could be worse. Your jacket  
could be in the clutches of that weird little boy-thing that's tried to terrorize the city." Mikae looked  
at Lori like she would a piece of rotting meat.  
"Okay. Touched a nerve huh? Well, you'd better get going before the bell goes off." Lori then  
pelted down the hall, skidding past two of her gang members as she dodged her way into the biology  
classroom. Mikae just leaned against the wall, looking at the CD Lori had given her.  
"Huh. She listens to stuff like Kittie? Well, I'll take a listen to it sometime later. Right now,  
I have a class to catch." Mikae put the CD in her pocket, then tore down the hallway towards her  
own class.  
  
Imperial Hotel, 10:52 AM   
  
Jenny was busy packing Wilson's stuff into his one duffel bag, and wondering how he had  
managed to hide almost ten pounds of magazines in the damn thing while still having enough room  
to insert every other piece of equipment he had deemed necessary for himself. Sighing, she felt  
something flutter by her hand. Looking down, she stared, almost uncomprehending, at a photograph  
taken last year when three of her friends and herself had gone on a two-week vacation to Grenada.  
The photo was slightly tattered around the edges, but it showed Wilson sitting on a lawn  
chair, with Jenny and Sel sitting on his forearms. All three of them were grinning from ear to ear,  
and Wilson was trying valiantly to keep Sel's long, dark hair from covering his face. However, as  
jenny looked at the picture, remembering all the good times had by all, a dull knocking sound echoed  
through the room. Jenny stood up, slipping the picture into her pants pocket as she walked over to  
the door. Frowning slightly, she listened quietly for a few seconds, hearing a formidable array of  
invective being sent in torrents onto some poor schmuck.  
She opened the door, waiting for the inevitable, and found it when she literally came eye-to-  
eye with one of her oldest friends, who was still firing a rather descriptive opinion of someone's  
genetic ancestry over her shoulder while keeping a thin hand nicely placed on a smaller version of  
herself that was gesturing rather rudely at the retreating person.  
"Sebena! Where'd you learn those gestures?!?" Jenny was shocked, and let it show by how  
she acted. Sebena, seeing that both adults were looking at her with an almost dangerous intensity,  
decided on the truth.  
"Big Jimmy at home. He also taught me some words that you've been using to explain to  
those cab drivers how dumb they are."  
Sebena looked at Jenny, then at her mother. The result was a shared glance between the two  
women, followed by a burst of laughter. "Okay, you win. Just don't use that language in mixed  
company. After all, we don't want to scare the boys, do we?"  
"No. That's your job. Now can I sit on something? My feet want me dead." Sebena looked  
into the barely furnished room, squeezed past Jenny, and hopped onto the bed. The other two entered  
the room as well, closing the door behind them as they started talking about their old friends and  
hopefully the new ones that could appear in the future.  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 8:35 PM   
  
Dr. Zack was exhausted. Not only had he gone through a rather vicious day at the school,  
with Tilman's backstabbing inter-department politics interfering with the educational curriculum,  
but the Mayor himself had called him and asked if he could preform an autopsy on a cybernetically  
enhanced creature that had managed to kill the commander of the team that had been called in.  
"My god. I'd rather be stuck in an inquiry where everyone is against me than have to deal  
with this day again."  
"Why's that?"  
Dr. Zack started at the familiar voice, and his right hand had snuck into the sleeve of his coat  
where he kept his knife before he put a face to the voice and relaxed. "Well, not only did I have to  
fight for some more funding to the science department of the school, which is still woefully  
underfunded, but I had to perform an autopsy on something that was so filled with plasma burns and  
shattered remnants of metal spikes that I thought I was going to extremely ill less than two minutes  
through." He sighed again, then removed his coat and hat before walking into his living room.  
"Don't forget that you're a Doctor of Quantum Physics, not a Medical Doctor. I wouldn't be  
surprised if you blew chunks all over a trash can as soon as you got out of the room." The speaker  
stepped out of the shadows, revealing her trademark fedora and cape.  
"Don't I know it. Now, where did you learn such language as 'blowing chunks'? You're  
starting to sound like Lucas." Dr. Zack frowned in mock disapproval.  
Six chuckled, then sat down in her favourite chair. "Don't let it bother you. By the way, I just  
got back from my doctor's and I have some news."  
Dr. Zack paused in filling his pipe, then lit a match once he was done. "Well, what's the  
news? You seem to be fairly happy."  
Six blushed for a few seconds, than looked at the simple golden ring she wore on her left  
hand. "Well, in about eight months, there'll be a new member of the family."  
Dr. Zack nearly swallowed his pipe. 


	14. Hitting the Fan

Trinity Church of the Holy Virgin, 10:20 AM   
  
The small church had the ability to hold about fifty people on a good day, but today it only  
held about twenty-five, not including a large coffin made of black wood. Just outside of the modest-  
looking building several policemen had gathered, including the chief and his most senior detectives.  
As the grizzled police veterans talked amongst themselves, Enrique, looking around for anything out  
of the ordinary, noticed a striking young woman wearing a knee-length black dress and a designer  
jacket, also black, walking down the sidewalk towards the church.  
Normally, that wouldn't have aroused suspicion in the hulking detective, but the woman was  
wearing sunglasses, had extremely long, pale hair, and seemed to be trying to keep someone or  
something fairly small away from the centre of attention. Curious, Enrique excused himself from his  
colleagues and walked over towards the woman, who seemed to be watching him as he walked  
towards her. When he had gotten about ten feet away, Enrique noticed what the woman was trying  
to shield, as the young child peeked out from behind the older person's skirt.  
Enrique paused when he saw that, as well as the smile of total affection the woman showed  
when she knelt down to straighten out the child's dress and jacket. He was actually close enough to  
hear some snatches of the conversation, but discreetly decided to ignore it in order to preserve the  
aura of privacy around the two.  
After several minutes of murmured conversation and fussing with clothes, the two continued  
on their walk towards the church, only to be bothered by some catcalls from some officers who were  
in uniform. The woman turned her head to glance at the two cops who were making lewd gestures,  
but they stopped when she lowered the sunglasses slightly. Obviously unnerved, the two continued  
on their beat, seeming to be slightly paler than before.  
Enrique paused again, watching as the two people walked into the church. Waiting for a few  
more minutes, he heard the single, mournful 'bong' that told everyone that it was halfway through  
the hour, then entered the church. Inside, most of the light came through the stained glass windows  
on each side of the main hall, revealing that someone had placed a single white rose on the coffin,  
acting as a complete counterpoint to the heavy black wood. Also near the coffin was the entire team  
that had worked under Wilson, but most of the team were clustered around the two newcomers to  
the slightly dim interior of the building.  
Walking over, he heard some snatches of conversation, but he was suddenly stopped by a  
cool hand resting on his forearm. "Don't. This is a rough time for most of them, and you're too  
unfamiliar. Also, most of them are armed, and they're quite protective of the people in their midst."  
Enrique looked at the person who had stopped him, and he almost instantly recognised the  
second-in-command of the team, most of whom were clustered around someone near the coffin.  
"Well, I just saw two people enter the church, and I am wondering who they are." The woman sitting  
beside him shuffled to her right a few inches, then gestured for Enrique to sit down. After he did so,  
she spoke again, looking at the small group clustered together.  
"The older one is the commanding officer of all the teams in the world. When she shows up,  
most everyone gets worried. We've been wondering about her sanity for years, but only in the last  
several months has she been really irrational. She's also the type of person that is capable of going  
against a communist army unit and cutting it to pieces in less time than it takes for her to have a  
shower." Enrique whistled slowly, and he quickly noticed that it was an extremely bad thing to do.  
Most everyone in the church turned to look at him, but the faint swish of hair moving towards him,  
followed quickly by the appearance of the mysterious woman, told him exactly how much trouble  
he was in.  
The woman walked over to where he was sitting, looked at the other woman, and smiled  
slightly. "Jenny, could you go look after Sebena while I... talk to him?" Jenny nodded, stood up, and  
hopped over Enrique's long legs as she went over to the cluster of people who were talking amongst  
themselves. Enrique leaned back in the pew, feeling the old hardwood digging into his back, and  
looked at the woman who seemed to loom over him like one of the stone gargoyles on the roof of  
the church.  
"Hi, we haven't been introduced yet, but I'm Detective Enrique of the Meridiana Police  
Department, Twelfth Precinct." Enrique smiled, trying to release some of the tension that was  
building, and failing miserably as the woman gestured for him to shove over. Moving over far  
enough so that he wouldn't crowd her, Enrique watched as she moved fluidly to sit beside him before  
she leaned back and blew an errant strand of hair into the air above her forehead.  
"Well, if you're a detective, that means you're up to date on all the shit that's been going on  
in this crater of a city. Care to fill me in?" She smiled slightly, then grabbed the errant strand as it  
settled along the bridge of her nose and pulled the long hair out of her scalp. She then wound the  
long hair around her pinky finger as Enrique tried to arrange his thoughts, distracting the huge cop.  
"Um, well, you've heard of the new boys in town right?" Even though her eyes were  
obscured by the sunglasses, the look she gave him was akin to asking if he was always so stupid.  
"Um, right. Well, there's been several areas of high 4G activity ever since two days ago, but we've  
managed to keep the cork on the normal crimes going about. Approximately ninety-some percent  
of all the crime in the city is being instigated by the heavily armed goon packs, and the force just  
can't keep up with it."  
The woman sighed and took off her sunglasses, closing her eyes as she rubbed at her  
forehead. Keeping her eyes closed, she started muttering under her breath, then opened her left eye.  
Glancing at Enrique carefully, she waved her hand in front of his face for a few seconds, then opened  
her right eye as well, revealing the black iris and cornea, not to mention the blazing red pupil. "Well,  
we're being left with a mess from hell, so I'm just going to call in a few favours and carpet-bomb  
the home base of those freaks."  
Enrique looked up, staring at her face as he digested the information he had just been given.  
"Wait a second. You can do that? With what?"  
She chuckled and looked at the coffin, instantly sobering herself up. "Yeah, if only to get  
some payback for Wilson. Now, If you'll excuse me, I have to talk to Father Trillio before the funeral  
starts." She stood up, replacing the sunglasses on her face before walking over to a door inset in the  
back wall.  
  
In Front of the Police HQ, 11:03 AM   
  
The police officers that had been outside the church had dispersed, heading off on their beats  
or some other reasons, but three people stood outside the church, listening as the centuries-old bell  
finished tolling. The small group was rather eclectic, consisting of two men and a woman, all of  
whom were dressed for the unseasonably cool weather of the day. Despite the news that the  
commander of the special team had been killed, CyberSix's enthusiasm about finding out she was  
going to have a child was hardly dampened.  
Beside her was Lucas, looking decidedly uncomfortable without his ever-present trenchcoat,  
which had been switched out for a dark jacket. On her other side was Dr. Zack, looking infinitely  
more distinguished than Lucas ever could, even though he was in a slightly rumpled sweater and  
baggy pants. He wasn't paying much attention to Six's minor berating of Lucas for wearing clothes  
that looked like they were family heirlooms from the middle of the last century, as he was watching  
the stragglers enter the church for the funeral.  
"Now, this ceremony is rather interesting. No bells, with the exception of the hourly ringing,   
and it'll probably be short and to the point." Lucas looked almost self-satisfied for a few seconds,  
then winced as Six elbowed him just below the ribs.  
"Lucas, if you don't get that smirk of your face, I'll help Tony wipe it off your face with some  
duct tape." Six frowned at Lucas, then leaned against the cornerstone of the old police station nearest  
the front of the church. "Now, Tony, could you tell us why we're here in the first place?"  
Dr. Zack nodded as he pulled a small pipe from his coat pocket, which was subsequently  
filled with some tobacco from a leather pouch. "Well, I'm waiting for someone who's currently in  
that church, but I'm too kind and decent to gate-crash. Also, I had a call from a Mr. Valentine who  
wanted me to meet up with a woman there."  
Six's eyes lit up for a second, and she smiled slightly. "Someone's trying to hook you up with  
one of their friends, huh?"  
Dr. Zack frowned around the pipe sticking out of his mouth, and he glared at his old friend.  
"Or an enemy. I heard of an old criminal called Valentine. He's currently in a max. security prison,  
but there were rumours of a child or spouse that became a professional thief or assassin."  
Lucas glanced at Dr. Zack, scribbling madly in a notepad as he got the information down on  
paper. "Well, there's a lot of Valentines in the world, and maybe one of the ones not in jail called  
you."  
Dr. Zack smiled, but shook his head. "I thought that as well, but I traced the call to one of the  
nastier penitentiaries in the US. As a result, I have a few 'surprises' stashed around the place, but  
they probably won't be used." Lucas shook his head at the display of Dr. Zack's paranoia, and  
continued writing notes.  
Dr. Zack leaned close to Six's shoulder, and whispered quietly. "So, he know yet?"  
Six smiled slightly as she watched the large man continue to take notes. "No, and I won't tell  
him until tomorrow. Why are you so antsy?"  
Dr. Zack lightly squeezed her shoulder, smiling mysteriously. "Not telling. Now, if you focus  
on the church, the ceremony should be over in about two more minutes, and Lucas will probably  
want to get some interviews with at least two people. Let's get over there."  
All three of them started walking towards the church, arriving just after the double doors  
opened to allow the pallbearers to leave the old building with the coffin. Following the bearers were  
two women and a child, shadowed by Enrique and the other members of the team that Wilson had  
lived with for the last three years.  
After the coffin had been placed in the hearse, and the creaky vehicle pulled away, Lucas  
walked over to the woman who wasn't tending to the weeping child and started to politely ask a few  
questions for his job as a newspaper reporter. Dr. Zack waited until he could get a clear view of the  
person who Lucas was talking to, but shook his head as his eyes scanned the group.  
Eventually the person who was tending to the little girl stood up, adjusting her sunglasses as  
she looked up at the grey skies. Dr. Zack looked at the woman, mentally reviewed the list of  
distinctive features that had been given to him by his mysterious caller, and found a match when he  
noticed the jagged line of pale tissue running down the side of the woman's neck. Tapping Six on  
the shoulder, he pointed at the woman as she swept some hair away from her face, making the Cyber  
frown as she remembered someone else who had done the same thing.   
"Reminds me of Elaine. That person's dangerous at any speed, but I have to wonder why  
she's wearing mirrorshades."  
Dr. Zack noticed he had burnt all the tobacco in his pipe, so he tapped out the ashes and  
placed the pipe in one of his coat pockets while focussing on the woman. "Hmm. Well, she's not  
genetically altered as far as I know. However, her blood is quite unique."  
Six looked at Dr. Zack, the hints of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Tony! I  
never knew you were such a cad!"  
Dr. Zack 'hmmphed' in irritation, and Six grinned at being able to get his goat so easily. "For  
your information, I only looked at her forearm. You know that my heart is set on one person only,  
and she's not it."  
Six giggled slightly, then looked at the woman. "Do you think that child is hers? The  
resemblance is almost uncanny."  
"It's possible Cyb. However, I wouldn't rule out cloning. Mentally age the child to about  
twenty-five, add on a scar to the side of the neck, and you'll have the woman there. It's almost  
uncanny."  
Dr. Zack frowned slightly, then walked over to the woman. "Good day miss, uh..."  
"Del Naryen. Call me Sel." The woman dropped her gaze back to eye level, and dropped one  
of her hands down far enough for the child to latch onto the thin appendage.  
"Ah. Well, um, Sel, I'm Dr. Anthony Zacharias. A day ago, I got a call from someone named  
Valentine, and he told me I could find you here today."  
She turned her head to look at him, then slowly removed her sunglasses, revealing another  
scar running just under her right eyebrow. She kept her eye closed, but looked at him with a solid  
gaze that reminded him of a wolf sizing up a jackrabbit. "Knew him, should've killed him. Where  
is he now?"  
Dr. Zack looked closely at her, seeing the dim pink strands that were intermixed with the  
more prominent dusty white shade of her hair. "In a New York pen. Probably to hide from you, or  
just because he got arrested for grand larceny two years ago."  
She chewed on her lower lip, looking down at the child as she did so. "Well, I did say that  
it'd bite him on the ass someday. Looks like he got what he deserved. So, why in hell did he call  
you? To try and say he's sorry?"  
Dr. Zack chuckled for a second, shaking his head. "No. Actually, he only told me that you'd  
be here. This entire meeting is my choice."  
She smiled slightly, then rubbed at her right eye. "Well, I'd recommend you scoot before  
something happens." Grimacing slightly, she seemed to shrink into herself, but stopped any motion  
towards her by opening her right eye. Dr. Zack was frozen in place as the black orb scanned him  
from head to toe with a thin red beam. "By the way, next time we meet, leave the peashooter at  
home. Also, forget about the knife hidden in your shirtsleeve." She then turned, and started to walk  
away from Dr. Zack.  
After the rest of the team had disengaged itself from idle conversations, Dr. Zack stood and  
stared at the retreating form of the woman. "That went well."  
  
Jose's Mansion, 4:30 PM   
  
Jose was somewhat pleased, but he was already up to his waist in damaged machine parts as  
he began the repairs on the surviving AFIs. All three of the survivors had suffered critical damage  
to their torsos and right arms, with varying degrees of damage done to the rest of their bodies. The  
first thing he did was replace the vital pieces that had suffered serious damage, restoring basic  
functions to the most heavily damaged parts. After he had stabilized the AFIs internal functions, he  
replaced the damaged internal plating, taking him a good five hours per Idea.  
After he was finished, Jose ordered some technos to keep a medical watch on the three, as  
well as a few normal FIs to keep watch on the medium-sized room. After making sure everything  
was up to date, Jose walked to a room with two landline uplinks to the subsidiary bases that Jess and  
Helmut were setting up. He put in calls to each base, and got responses almost instantly. Jess, when  
she popped up on the video screen hooked up to the line, looked like she had been working  
underneath a truck, as her face and arms were smeared with thick grease and dirt.  
Helmut popped up a few seconds later, looking just as haggard, but less dirty. Both of them  
instantly started sniping at each other. "Well, if it isn't little miss greaseball. You look like you  
dropped out of the sphinx's nose."  
Jess snorted, then flipped the bird at the screen. "Well, I'd still look better than you ever  
could, and right now you look like someone dragged you through a knothole with a pair of tongs  
glued to your balls."  
Jose grinned, then spoke up. "Well, now that the greetings are over, let's get to business. You  
two are going to get one of my AFIs each."  
Jess spoke up quickly. "AFIs? What in hell are those?"  
Jose sighed, then rolled his eyes up at the ceiling. "Augmented Fixed Ideas. The bigger,  
tougher, smarter, and meaner brother to those brainless hulks we call grunt work. Be warned, as  
they're tough enough to be hit by almost five minutes of that gauss shit you told me about."  
Jess whistled, but was distracted by an echoing boom from behind her. "Sorry boss,  
something's up. Talk to you later." Her image flickered out, leaving Jose and Helmut alone for a  
while.  
"Last time I trust a techno to do the job right." Jose grumped for a few seconds, then asked  
Helmut how his base was doing.  
"Almost up to full capacity. We'll be ready in just under forty hours." Helmut was also  
distracted by something, and was forced to disconnect to deal with it, leaving Jose with his thoughts,  
and a videotape of Mikae struggling to free herself from her bonds back when he had captured her.   
Chuckling in anticipation, he plopped the tape into the VCR and was enjoying the show Mikae was  
putting on, when the tape suddenly blanked out.  
"What the hell? Rrrrgggh! At the best time too! Well, good thing I had a backup installed that  
morning. Now, where did I put it?" Jose rummaged through the security tapes and eventually found  
what he was looking for. Placing it in the VCR, he chuckled as the screen popped up, revealing a  
great shot of Mikae's rear. "Well, the angle's sub-par, but she does have a nicer butt than Jess."  
He watched through the entire thing, but when he saw how Mikae's escape was effected, he  
flew into a paroxysm of rage, smashing the TV. After he calmed down, he realized that he hadn't  
seen the number that was usually tattooed into the Idea's huge biceps. "Well, either I have a traitor  
to my cause, or that Idea is monumentally stupid. No matter what however, that Idea's gonna die." 


	15. Voyage to Hell

Mikae's Home,4:27 AM   
  
Mikae was bored. Being stuck at home all weekend and every day after school for the next  
two weeks didn't appeal to the impulsive teen, but she at least had a lot of practice in cleaning her  
room well enough to hide her stockpile of sustenance. Ironically, she was less pissed when her  
mother disconnected her internet connection that when she had spilled a bowl of cereal all over her  
rattiest pair of jeans.  
*Gawd, if I wanted to be a housewife sometime in the future, this'd be interesting. Too bad.  
I'm sooo fucking bored, I'd rather be stuck in that stunted little bastard's little pit of debauchery than  
here, and that says a lot.* Sighing, Mikae turned from the window that let her look out to the natural  
harbour, having decided to sneak out anyways. Ten minutes later, a small black shadow detached  
itself from the cornice around the top floor's window and jumped towards the police station.  
The shadow stopped for a few seconds about five blocks away from the station, balancing  
easily on the arm of an old traffic lamppost. Below the shadow, two five-ton trucks roared through  
the intersection, belching out clouds of smoke and ashes. One sideswiped a small sedan, crushing  
the smaller vehicle into scraps of ruined metal and shreds of flesh as the two people in the car had  
the engine block relocated into their laps.  
The shadow paused for a second, then jumped along the rooftops until it could hop onto the  
top of the closer truck. However, the truck split off from its undamaged clone, making the shadow  
learn about inertia first-hand, rolling along the roof and landing in a pile of garbage cans. The  
response, after the echoing clatter of the filled cans landing on the form died away, was a volley of  
shouted swearing and other invective as the shadow, stepping out into the light of a street lamp  
revealed itself as Mikae.  
"Well, dammit! I'd better get home before mom finds out I've been sneaking off again. I'd  
better have a shower as well..." Mikae trailed off, sniffing the immensely over-ripe remnants of a  
melon that had managed to slather itself over her left arm. "Yep. Definitely need a shower." With  
that comment, Mikae retreated to the shadows, then headed back to her home, wiping some of the   
sticky sludge off of her arms.  
Behind her, a purple-clad form wearing a long cape landed quietly on top of the canvas  
covering the back of the trailing truck. The truck slowed down in order to make a turn, but the form  
easily unlimbered a long gun as it hopped over the low-hanging traffic lights. Just as the truck  
finished its turn, the form aimed straight down, and opened up with the gun, riddling the entire cab  
of the truck with razor-sharp spikes that produced miniature thunderclaps as they punched through  
the inch-thick metal.  
Seconds after the volley of high-speed death had torn through the driver and the Idea riding  
shotgun, the form had pulled off the driver's door, grabbed the wheel, and sent the truck into a turn  
that strained the battered vehicle's centre of gravity. Holding the angle for a few seconds longer than  
could be considered safe, the form jumped up into the air as the truck overbalanced and flipped,  
rolling end over end as it plowed through the almost-deserted street. Eventually, the severely abused  
vehicle came to a stop, only to burst into flame as the form, still in midair, raked the chassis with  
more supersonic spikes, puncturing the fuel tank.  
The spikes burrowed into the frame of the truck, forcing the fast-moving slugs to transfer  
most of its kinetic energy to the metal frame, slagging it with a burst of superheated matter. The  
almost-full tank of diesel emptied most of its contents directly into a pool of the molten slag, which  
had explosive results. The truck, which was almost unrecognisable right before the blast, was  
reduced to only a twisted hulk, spitting flames and sparks into the sky.  
Most of the occupants of the truck had died in the rollover and subsequent strafing, but one  
extra-large and extremely bulky form managed to crawl out of the furiously burning wreckage.  
Ignoring the ammunition that was cooking off from the heat of the blaze behind it, and the fact that  
most of its torso was smoldering, the form raised its left hand, pointing a rocket launcher at the  
slowly descending person that had destroyed the truck.  
The huge Idea fired the rocket, keeping the laser sight firmly locked on the person's chest as  
the person let go of the edges of the long cape, letting gravity take over to accelerate under the  
guided rocket's fast-moving payload. The rocket overshot, then wheeled around to reacquire the  
target, but slammed into a building before it could complete its turn, shattering the mortar and  
sending about five tons of destroyed brick into the street.  
The person being shot at, instead of running away, dropped the rifle and pulled out two  
handguns that were quickly pointed at the Idea's forehead. The Idea, actually being smarter than the  
average brick, dropped the empty rocket launcher and raised its arms as twin red dots danced on the  
bridge of its nose.  
"Smart boy. Now, come over here or I'll punch a hole through your head." The Idea closed  
the distance to the person, arms still raised, and most likely in pain from the burns covering its chest  
and forearms. The person took a few steps towards the wounded Idea, then slowly circled around the  
hulking form.  
"Huh. If I thought you were dangerous, you'd have twelve bullets in your head by now. You  
don't want that, right?" The Idea nodded, but felt the cold metal of one of the pistols pushing against  
the back of its head anyhow. "Well tough. Good riddance."  
The pistol produced a loud cracking noise as the bullet smacked into the back of the Idea's  
neck, just below the skull. The bullet managed to worm its way into the Idea's heavy skull by  
ricocheting off of the spinal column, bouncing upwards and through the poor being's brain. The Idea  
swayed for a few seconds after its death, then crashed to the ground as it disintegrated, leaving only  
its singed pants and a full vial.  
The killer stood there, breathing in the cool air for almost a minute, backlit by the secondary  
explosions and furiously burning blaze. Eventually, the person turned towards the dropped rifle, and  
picked up the dangerous weapon as she walked into the dim shadows beyond the illumination of the  
fire. Inside the blaze, an even larger form rose from the wreckage, and slowly clomped after the  
person who had nearly killed it.  
  
Jess' Base, 5:35 AM   
  
Jess was more than slightly annoyed. First off, she had been forced to liquidate several  
curious security guards, which could probably bring the police down on her. Secondly, the truck was  
overdue by almost half an hour, and she was beginning to get concerned. Trying to put her fears to  
rest, she turned on the small TV she had in the corner of the office she had commandeered, but  
instead of seeing something restful, such as a dramatization of someone being murdered, Jess saw  
the truck Jose had sent, flipped over, and burning furiously.  
"What in hell?" Jess turned up the volume on the TV, while scrambling for the cellular that  
she had set a speed-dial to Jose's office. Punching the button, she let the connection go through, then  
started talking. "Boss, you'd better turn on the TV. It looks like your 'covert' transportation has been  
short-circuited about three kliks away from the police station. Guess who was credited with it? The  
new boss of that spec-ops team from hell." Jess paused, pulling the phone away from her head so  
she could avoid having an eardrum rupture from the excessive spate of swearing that erupted from  
the cell's receiver. "Now that you've vented the current bit of anger, why don't you send over some  
more Ideas as well as the rocket launchers and machine guns to arm them? I'm ten blocks away from  
a bank, and I want to make a withdrawal."  
The response was slightly affirmative, so Jess just placed a few words into Jose's mouth by  
forcing him to agree with what she wanted. After she hung up, she watched the reporter at the scene  
of the destruction run through what was known about what had happened, but Jess toned out the rest  
of the report as she began to figure out what she was going to do as part of her reinforcements had  
been shattered.  
  
Sentinel Hotel, 5:47 AM   
  
*If there's one thing to be said about this stuff, At least I can get up to my room in about five  
good jumps.* Sel was about twenty stories up, holding onto a stanchion that protruded from the  
corner of the building. Using some momentum to swing on top of the stanchion, she then looked at  
the stanchion that was pointing out from the tall building's far corner at the thirtieth floor. Gathering  
herself, she leaped for the metal bar, stretching her arms out so she could swing around the bar onto  
the penthouse balcony.  
However, she had misjudged the distance, so instead of swinging around, she literally  
slammed into the bar just below her ribs, knocking the wind out of her before slowly rotating around  
to look down at the ground almost three hundred feet below. *That would sting if I fell. Well, time  
to get topside.* She took a deep breath, straightening her arms enough to get her knees underneath  
herself before bouncing over the four-foot high fence ringing the balcony.  
After her feet were firmly planted on the solid rooftop, she deactivated the armour, and  
removed the cape, slowly walking into the room shared by herself and her daughter, but unmindful  
of the breeze on her mostly naked body. After getting inside, she put her weapons and armour in the  
open duffel bag that was resting on a chair, kissed Sebena on the cheek, and crawled into her own  
bed, falling asleep rather quickly.  
Three hundred feet below, the hulking form looked up just in time to see the last flutter of  
the cape it had been tracking for almost an hour. Smiling to itself, it walked through the front doors  
of the tall hotel, looked at the night clerk, and pointed up. "Top floor, now."  
Ten minutes later, the Hulk was squeezed into the elevator, looking exceptionally pissed off  
as the doors finally opened to the penthouse. Moving carefully, and rather stealthily for something  
so large, it entered the room, and slowly moved towards the two beds that were occupied. Just as it  
reached the first bed, and looked down at the tiny form sleeping peacefully, it felt something was  
wrong.  
Turning towards the second bed, it saw an older person, pointing what looked like the  
infantile version of a heavy artillery cannon at its chest. The barrel of the cannon glowed blue as  
electricity seemed to crawl down to the person's arm, and the hulk realized it was going to be sore.  
"Get away from my daughter, you BASTARD!" The person squeezed the trigger, launching  
an azure bolt of pure energy directly into the being's chest. The person didn't let go until the batteries  
were dead, and after dropping the now-useless PPC, the person grabbed two guns from the bedside  
table, ran over to the fallen form of the AFI, and started pumping bullets into the base of its skull to  
make sure it was dead. After emptying both pistols of ammunition, the person looked at Sebena, who  
was sitting upright in bed, wide-eyed and scared out of her wits.  
A sudden change seemed to come over the person, who dropped the pistols, moved over to  
Sebena, and hugged the scared child for a good twenty minutes. "There, there. It's all over. I really  
didn't want you to see that, but now you know what I'm up against." Behind the two, the AFI slowly  
staggered to its feet, gritting its teeth so heavily that chips flaked off. It stood up to its full height,  
looking quite imposing in the dim light. Sebena looked up, saw the huge for raise one hand, and  
gasped in fear. Sel turned around shoving Sebena away as the AFI's right fist swung forwards,  
catching the woman in the shoulder and making her fly through the window onto the balcony. Shards  
of glass punctured her back as she tumbled all the way to the edge of the balcony, where she was  
generously assisted over the edge by a vicious kick.  
"NO! Mommie!!!" Sebena cried, devastated. "Why did you do that? Why?" The AFI turned  
to re-enter the room and finish the job, when it walked into a hail of gauss spikes that slammed into  
its face, making the huge being stagger against the railing in surprise. The sheer momentum of the  
slugs overbalanced the AFI, which teetered over the railing for a few seconds before tilting  
backwards and falling headfirst towards the ground. Inside the damaged room, Sebena lowered her  
mother's gauss rifle, still crying as she ran towards the balcony to see where her mom was.  
Twenty stories below Sebena, Two people were firmly latched onto one of the many  
stanchions protruding from the hotel just as a massive form plummeted to the ground, hollering like  
a banshee as it hit the pavement with a decidedly final 'Krrunch'. The person who was closer to the  
wall of the hotel winked at the impact crater, then carefully clambered over the railing to an  
unoccupied balcony.  
Helping the person who had saved her over the rail, the woman looked into the black eyes  
of CyberSix. "Thanks. I thought I was a goner for sure. By the way, I'm Sel. What's your name?"  
Six looked undecided, but shrugged to herself and offered her hand. "I go by a few names,  
but I'm normally called CyberSix. Or Six, to be short."  
"Huh. Well, it seems we have something in common other than our dislike of those things.  
Still, I wonder how it fell like that. The only other person upstairs was... Ohmigod! My daughter!"   
Six grabbed onto Sel's upper arms, giving the thinner woman a shake."Look, if that thing  
fell, it's a sure bet your daughter's looking for you right about now. Why don't we get to the top and  
reassure her?" Sel nodded, and allowed Six to help her to the top through some well-placed jumps.  
After the two had managed to get to the top balcony, Sel instantly ran over to Sebena, who  
was sitting on the balcony, crying. "Hey, hey. I'm here. Someone managed to save me from a very  
unpleasant fate. You wanna meet her?"  
Sebena looked up, thought she was seeing a ghost, but felt the warm arms encircling her and  
buried her face in the hollow between Sel's collarbones, crying her heart out. After a few minutes,  
Sebena calmed down and looked at her mom.  
"Wow. You look like you wanna visit the hospital." Sel winced as a shard of glass decided  
to dig a bit, but smiled anyhow.  
"Yep. Well, here's the person that saved me from being squished like a mosquito." Sebena  
turned from her bloodied and battered mother to look at Six, who was leaning, quite carefully,  
against the railing. Sebena walked over, ignoring the spatters of Sel's blood that clung to her small  
hands, and hugged Six tightly around the legs.  
Whispering quietly, Sebena clung to six with all the tenacity of a leech. "Thank you. Thank  
you, thank you, thank you. You saved my mommy, so you'll get something the next time I see you."  
Six gently disengaged Sebena from the bearhug that was keeping her from moving, and knelt  
down to look into the cerulean eyes of the small child. "Well, I don't really need anything, because  
your gratitude is enough. But I think we should get your mommy to the hospital. After all, I saw what  
her back looked like when I caught her, and it wasn't pretty."  
Sel snorted in derision, then winced as she pulled a rather large piece of glass out of her right  
shoulder. "Well, I'll go to the hospital, but only to get the glass out of my back. After all, I heal  
quickly."  
Six frowned but agreed, and after Sel got more than just her skivvies and a bloody tanktop  
on, the three went to the hospital so Sel could get the pieces of glass out of her back and shoulders.  
After the short visit at the hospital, with the nastier gashes being stitched closed, Six took her leave  
just as the sunlight crested over the ocean, bathing the city in liquid gold. Sel and Sebena walked  
back to the hotel, with the elder avoiding physical contact with anyone to avoid jarring her sore back  
and shoulders.  
In less than half an hour, they had arrived at the front of the hotel, and looked into the small  
crater where a bio-hazard crew were scraping the remains of the large assailant out of the hole with  
squeegees and dustpans. *Now that's gross. Hmm, I think I'll go and visit one of those open-air  
markets with little S just so she feels better. Heck, if Jenny finds out what had just happened, she'd  
have the entire squad crawling all over the place to make sure it never happens again.* Looking  
down at Sebena, Sel got an idea, letting a smile break out over her face. "Hey, why don't we go to  
one of those open-air markets? I bet they have lots of nifty stuff."  
Sebena agreed, grinning, and the two walked into the city, letting the sun bathe their faces  
in brightness. 


	16. Cops and Robbers Going Sour

Imperial Hotel Conference Room, 9:30 AM   
  
Jenny was exhausted, having been awake for at least four hours fielding questions from  
reporters and the police about the sudden assault earlier that morning. She had seen the wreckage  
of the truck, and had also examined the shattered remains of the wall that had been hit by the rocket.  
The questions she had fielded were along the lines of 'Will something like this happen again?' and  
her honest response was that the assaults against the properties and creatures holding allegiance to  
the dwarfish psychotic would end when he gave up and left the city for good.  
After she had answered all the questions from that scene, she had then been called over to  
a medium-sized impact crater near the hotel Sel was at. The crater, after her inspection, had revealed  
itself to be the resting place of what looked like the squashed remains of the kind of creature that had  
killed Wilson. During the inspection, Jenny had decided to ask the night clerk and found out that the  
immense green goon had gone up to the thirtieth floor, and five minutes later, it had landed headfirst  
in the parking lot.  
A few minutes after that, according to the clerk, two women and a child left the hotel, but  
one of the women had seemed to be injured, and the other was dressed in black leather. Jenny took  
the testimony with a grain of salt, but less than an hour later she saw Sel going through a market with  
Sebena, looking quite at peace with herself, until someone touched her shoulder. Sel seemed to  
shrink inwardly at that, but the look of pain on her face sold it for Jenny.  
Looking back at what she had seen over the last few days, Jenny wondered if it was okay to  
even have a team here, as it seemed to be a cursed city. Two members of a twenty-person team had  
been injured in less than two weeks, and a third had been killed outright. The only good news in the  
last month was when an update on the unwilling assassin had shown up, stating that the person had  
regained most of her memories, but was only partially recovered from the abuse she had taken during  
her assassinations.  
Jenny smiled slightly, then stood up to open the door to the hallway so the other members  
of the team could enter. The first one in, Tsier, looked at the empty table, looked at his commander,  
and smiled. "So, looks like you cleared out all the pastries before I could get at them huh?"  
Jenny grinned. "Yep. You stuff your mouth with those pastries anymore, and it'll take a  
spruce goose to haul your ass around. Okay children, listen up! We're moving."  
Bellinger looked up from the scribble he had been chipping into the table with one of his  
knives, and frowned. "Now? I've just managed to get the finishing touches on this one anyhow." He  
was quickly mobbed as half the team decided to look at his handiwork, and Tsier was almost  
knocked silly by the congratulations that were thumped upon him. After everything had died down,  
Jenny called the team to order and handed out the necessary preparations. The response to where  
they were going to be based was followed up by some cheers, and the other women on the team  
grinned at each other.  
They were going to the sentinel hotel.  
  
Market Street, 11:30 AM   
  
Sel was beginning to get tired from having to chase Sebena around, and her right hand was  
beginning to throb in pain again, but the two were having fun. As they entered Don's Snack Shoppe,  
which was somewhat darker than the outside, Sel paused for a few minutes to let her real eye adjust  
to the dimness. Sebena had already torn free and was staring at the three model trains that were  
moving around a track that ringed the entire counter. There were three other people in the small  
eatery; two were behind the counter, and seemed to be in their mid-sixties. The third person was  
younger, and much scruffier. Just as Sebena passed by him, the young man reached out with one  
hand and grabbed Sebena by the shoulder.  
"Mom! Help!!!" Sebena struggled wildly for a few seconds, then stopped when she felt the  
cool metal pressing itself against the side of her head. Sel stood in the doorway, staring at the person  
who had a snub-nosed revolver pressed to her daughter's skull.  
"You. Bitch. Move away from the door, or the little girl gets a lead injection to the brain."  
Sel frowned, carefully taking a few steps to the side.  
"You hurt her in any way, and your testicles will be rammed up your nose faster than you can  
say 'Ow'." Instead of responding, the man started walking towards the exit, still holding his gun to  
Sebena's head.  
"Yeah? You and what army?" The thug sneered as he steered Sebena towards the exit, but  
Sel's left hand moved with almost blinding speed as the thug passed her, and he stopped as he felt  
the heavy barrel of a magnum press against the back of his head. "Now, let my daughter go, or the  
only thing left of your mind will be a pink smear over on the wall." The thug paused, then let Sebena  
free. In response, she stomped on the thug's foot, making him yelp in pain. After recovering, he  
snarled like an angry wolf, turning to try and hit her.  
Sel, pissed off by the thug's actions, grabbed him with her right hand, spinning him around  
and shoving him backwards into the doorframe. Keeping him pinned to the doorframe with the barrel  
of the magnum sitting on the point of his chin, Sel reached up and removed her sunglasses. "So, what  
was that about an army?"  
"What the hell are you?" The thug gasped out before Sel's right forearm slammed into his  
throat, choking him.  
"I'm human. Just less human than some, but more human than you. Now, drop the gun or I'll  
relocate your elbow to your asshole." Sel grinned as the thug gaped at the dull black and red gleam  
of her artificial eye, but noticed him moving his gun to try and shoot her.  
She slid to the right, moving her pistol to the thug's elbow while dodging the barrel of the  
smaller pistol. Seconds later, she put a bullet through the thug's right elbow, shattering all the bones  
there, shredding the ligaments, and rupturing the artery that fed his forearm. The bullet embedded  
itself in the wooden doorframe, and Sel let the thug collapse, watching as he clutched at his arm to  
try and stanch the bleeding. She then put away her gun, turned to the two people behind the counter,  
and smiled slightly.  
"Sorry about the mess. Could you look after my daughter while I call the cops? After all,  
we've had a really bad day." The two people agreed, and Sel took a few steps outside so she could  
call up the police HQ.  
  
Police HQ, 11:45   
  
"Hello, this is Enrique... what? Okay, I'll be there in ten. Don't plan on going shopping for  
at least three hours though." Enrique stood up, ending the call before dialling in another number.  
"Hello, Martinez? We got a call from Don's Snack Shoppe, and we'll need a meat wagon for the  
thug. Apparently, his right arm was nearly amputated, so take two men with strong stomachs. I'll be  
there as well, so try to be nice."  
Enrique then walked out of the office, went to the parking lot, and drove over to Don's. Ten  
minutes later, he got out of his SUV and looked at the scene. Two paramedics were bandaging the  
thug's arm, none to gently either, and all three were being watched by the woman who had called  
in the attempted robbery. Behind her, inside the eatery, the sounds of youthful laughter rang out like  
the peals of a bell.  
Enrique walked over to the thug and looked at the face, which was contorted in pain, but still  
recognisable. "Well, if it isn't Manny." Enrique leaned over the thug's face, letting his shadow fall  
over the notorious thug. "What happened? Couldn't find any children to do your dirty work? I'll be  
glad to put you away for a nice long time." He straightened up as the paramedics finished bandaging  
Manny's arm, then grinned as Manny was simply dumped into the 'meat wagon'.  
Enrique turned to the woman who was leaning against the street lamp in front of the store.  
"So, this is the second time we've met. You were the one who put the slug through Manny's arm?"  
She nodded, and Enrique chuckled. "I should give you a medal. Manny's been a thorn in my ass for  
the last three years, and it's a pleasure to see that lump of fat put away."  
Sel smiled slightly, but the scar tissue making up part of her neck turned the smile into a  
grimace. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, the only people who can touch my daughter are those who  
are smart and decent enough to not pull a gun on her or my friends."  
Enrique raised an eyebrow at the oblique lack of respect for her own well-being, and decided  
not to mention it. "So, considering how quickly you mashed that thug, I'm betting you also wrecked   
that truck full of Fixed Ideas this morning." Enrique paused at the look of shock on Sel's face, then  
forged onwards. "Anyhow, it takes a lot of guts and skill to do what you did, and considering how  
you look, I'm betting you got some shrapnel in your back."  
Sel grimaced as she rubbed her shoulder. "Not quite. There was a survivor that decided to  
visit me at home. Most of a glass door went into my back and shoulders when the thing punched  
me."  
Enrique winced. "Ouch. Well, how about I treat you and your daughter to lunch?"  
Sel smiled slightly, then nodded towards the door to Don's. "Well, is this place any good?"  
Enrique nodded, and the two walked into the small shop. Inside, there was no visual evidence of the  
aborted robbery, with the exception of a rather large hole in the doorframe. The older woman who  
had been behind the counter was currently sitting beside Sebena, who was wolfing down a kiddie-  
sized cheeseburger.  
"So, it looks like the celebrations have started without the guest of honour. Hello Don. Seems  
that this place is a magnet for thugs." Don chuckled, pausing to say a few words in Italian, then  
pointed at something hidden by the raised counter top.   
"If I had been a bit faster, that thug would have been staring down an Ithaca Model A instead  
of getting the contents of the register. Young lady, thank you." Sel blushed at the praise heaped on  
her, then turned when she heard Sebena burp in a most unladylike manner.  
"Sebena! Didn't I raise you better than that?" Sebena grinned and looked sheepish, but Sel  
smiled slightly to take the sting out of the rebuke. "Well, I'm also feeling fairly hungry, so I think  
I'll have a deluxe cheeseburger with fries. Is that okay with you Mr..."  
"Diortti. And, not only is it okay, but I would greatly appreciate it if you became a regular,  
like that moving mountain whose eyes are tethered to your backside." Sel glared at Enrique, who  
suddenly took great interest in looking at the ceiling, his face flushing bright red. After a few  
seconds, all the adults in the small store burst into laughter, leaving Sebena to look at everyone,  
shrug, and continue eating.  
Several minutes later, Sel and Enrique were sitting in the booth across from each other,  
trading stories. After a little while, Sel had asked if she could remove the shades without scaring  
him, and after getting an affirmative response from the veteran cop, she put the sunglasses in a  
pocket of her coat, letting the artificial eye take in everything it wanted to. After Enrique saw the tiny  
red beam range along the entire model train that was travelling around the boundary of the store, he  
couldn't keep quiet.  
"So do you have direct control over that thing?"  
Sel shook her head. "Not really. It tracks all forms of motion, in three different spectrums,  
but also acts as a simple camera. Useful for finding a really nice picture of a wolf in its natural  
habitat, or for seeing what firearms someone has concealed underneath their thermal underwear."  
Enrique nearly choked on part of his Taco Supreme. After clearing his throat, and keeping   
from accidentally snorting his glass of Root Beer, he looked at the utterly imperturbable face of his  
companion. "So, you've met the mystery called Dr. Zack, huh? What was your 'read' on him?"  
Sel grimaced, then smiled. "Well, he's almost impossible to shock, acts more like a kindly  
uncle than a stranger, and had a .22 calibre target pistol hidden under his shirt when he talked to me,  
no to mention the nasty-looking knife stuffed up his left shirt sleeve. Overall, I'd have to say he's  
paranoid, but nice to know if you're on his good side."  
Enrique nodded, then looked over at Sebena, who was busy playing with the controls for the  
electric trains. "That's pretty accurate for the one meeting, correct?" Sel nodded, and Enrique forged  
onwards. "Anyhow, I've met him as well when he harboured several important people who were  
attacked by that psychotic dwarf that commands those big green brutes. If you go up against those  
brutes, I'd recommend talking to the doctor first, as he seems to know almost everything about them.  
Too bad he only won bronze last year."  
Sel paused, looking at Enrique. "So, he was the finalist who used a fifteen-year old pistol and  
beat the pants off of the reigning champion? I was wondering why the Olympics would let anyone  
who looked... well, that old into the runnings, even with his scores. Personally, I watched the entire  
thing, and I think someone played with the gun's setscrews to make him miss the first two bulls in  
the finals." She mopped up the last of her meal with several fries as she spoke, then glanced up.  
Enrique finished off the last of his own meal, then stood up to pay for the three orders.  
  
Jose's Mansion, 1:52 PM   
  
Jose's plan to flush out the smart Idea was proceeding apace, as he had gone through the  
revelation that, because of the mortality rate of the average Idea, he could just hold a total census,  
find the one with the lowest number, and shoot the sucker with several rocket launchers. He also  
knew that the Idea was one of the ones that had been allocated jackets and solid shirts, so he kept the  
census to only those ranks.  
All the jacketed Ideas were standing in straight ranks, right biceps bared for checking the  
numbers that were tattooed into the thick green flesh. All of the Ideas were a good eight feet tall, but  
a few were closer to nine and a half instead of the average. Jose was currently studying the number  
of one such exceptionally large Idea, but the immense hulk seemed to be much dumber than normal,  
barely able to say 'Yes sir', much less have enough intelligence to count past two. The number,  
however, said that the Idea was the twelfth out of the tanks, and, considering that Jose was at the end  
of the long line, the midget pulled out a massive pistol and put three bullets through the Idea's head.  
The body swayed, fell over, and disappeared in a flash of steam and heat. "Well, that should  
remove the traitor from our midst. Now, everyone, BACK TO WORK! YOU'VE BEEN  
SLACKING OFF FOR THE ENTIRE MORNING!"  
Jose then strutted off, with one of the surviving AFIs shadowing him like an improbable  
ghost. Back in the large courtyard, all the Ideas dispersed, with only one lingering. The lone Idea  
looked around, mentally pitying his incredibly unlucky tank-mate as he looked at his bared arm.  
Looking back was a fresh addition to the tattoo on his arm: three zeros followed the slightly doctored   
four on his huge bicep. Shrugging, the Idea rolled down his sleeve, and went back to his assigned  
area to patrol.  
  
Meridiana 3rd National Bank, 6:27 PM   
  
Jess listened to the alarm ringing over and over and over, until she spun around, aimed her  
AS-12 auto-shotgun at the offending bell, and blasted it into oblivion with two rifled slugs. She  
turned back to the six Ideas that were busy emptying the vault by tossing bags of cash out of the  
warped and partially melted door. The vault had already been two-thirds emptied by the time Jess  
had been fed up enough to blast the alarm, and two trucks had already roared away with full loads.  
Just as the last three bags of money were being pulled out of the vault by the last two Ideas  
in the building, Jess heard the sirens as the police pulled up, cordoning her off from the five-ton  
truck in the front. Swearing, the techno turned towards the wooden door beside the vault, yelling at  
the Ideas to get out of the bank through the back door. Jess kicked open the door, heading through  
the hallway towards the side of the bank. Just as she got to an emergency exit, the door was bashed  
inwards, but held for a few seconds, despite the eight-inch deep dent in the two-inch plate steel. Two  
more blows struck the heavy door, denting it into a strange form of impressionistic art.  
Jess was long gone from that area when the door was sent flying down the hallway, followed  
quickly by a slight and extremely angry form that was covered from hairline to feet in what could  
best be described as a second skin made of overlapping metal scales. The form paused for a second  
after entering the now-gaping doorway, then started to charge down the hallway, following what  
looked like a small scanner inset into its right forearm. As the person ran down the hallway, pursuing  
either Jess or the fixed Ideas, Jess carefully peeked out from behind the door she was hiding behind.  
Jess watched as the form stopped, letting a long spike literally slide out of its right forearm,  
followed quickly by a fifteen-foot long flexible blade that seemed to act more like a whip than a  
sword. The form continued moving, heading towards the back of the bank Less than a minute later,  
two angry shouts suddenly turned into cries of agony, sending chills down Jess' spine. While Jess  
was frozen in horror as she listened to the horrible screams that echoed through the halls, she was  
suddenly and forcefully snapped out of her inaction by a police officer rounding the corner and  
seeing her.  
Jess reacted without thinking, bringing her auto-shotgun up, and walking five shells up the  
cop's body. The first two smacked into the cop's right knee and thigh, causing his shattered leg to  
give out as the next three slammed into his stomach, chest, and head. The two that hit him in the  
stomach and chest were mostly stopped by his tactical vest, but the shot to his head literally  
decapitated him, leaving only his lower jaw in one piece as his brainpan, eyes, and hair splattered  
all over the far end of the hallway like a very gruesome Jackson Pollock.  
Jess ran as quickly as possible down the short hallway to the open exit, wondering what sort  
of shit she had gotten herself into as she ducked a hail of bullets from two more officers. She tore  
out of the exit, hair and money bag flying, and one handed her gun's barrel into the chest of a  
bystander. The shotgun discharged as Jess ran, blowing a dinner-plate sized hole eight inches deep  
into the poor person's chest, and the now seriously scared techno tore off towards her base, totally  
unheeding of the spectacle she created as civilians scattered away from the wildly moving barrel of  
her shotgun.  
About five stories above Jess' fleeing form, Cybersix stood up from the rooftop, and, looking  
at Data 7, the two started to track the techno. The two continued to track Jess as she ran to the nearest  
warehouse, but unbeknownst to the two siblings, they were also being tracked. Less than five  
hundred yards behind them, the person who had shredded the two Ideas in the bank was trailing Six,  
and having a rather difficult time closing the range.  
Six and Data 7 disappeared into the warehouse, following Jess, but their own shadower didn't  
speed up when the roar of gunfire, followed by an angry roar from Data 7 tore through the air. The  
shadow paused only long enough to allow its armour to shift its colour until it matched the shade of  
decaying iron and the dull sheen of tin. The now-totally camouflaged form then headed towards the  
warehouse, but was suddenly, and rather painfully, halted when Six was literally launched out of  
some of the windows in the side of the building, slamming into the form at high speed.  
Instead of rolling off of the decidedly floored person, Six groaned in pain, tried to lever  
herself off of the form she had landed on, and failed, slumping onto the roof. The form was much  
more vehement, shoving Six off of itself as it swore loudly. It looked towards the warehouse,  
instinctively ducking when another roar of gunfire smashed its way through several windows.  
The form looked down at Six, crouching as it reached out, picked up the Cyber's hat, and  
placed the floppy black fedora on its own head. Shrugging, it took the large hat off and placed it  
firmly on Six's head, obscuring the unconscious Cyber's face. The form seemed to linger for a few  
more moments, then leaped through the hole that had been created by Cybersix's unhealthy exit.  
Inside the warehouse, many of the once-neatly stacked crates had fallen to the concrete floor,  
and much of those had burst open, revealing weapons, ammunition, and several unidentified  
substances that appeared to be food soaked in engine oil. The form had landed on one of the less-  
twisted girders, and it crouched there as a wildly swinging light bathed the area in jittering shadows  
and strange angles, before the form pulled out a pistol and blew the light into glittering shards and  
sparks.  
Less than five seconds later however, the pained roar of a huge cat shook the walls, and the  
form dropped down to the ground by literally sliding with one hand down one of the huge I-beams  
that supported the steel roof of the cavernous warehouse. Fixing on the howl of pain, it almost  
instantly headed towards the sound, occasionally vaulting over the collapsed heaps and crates. In less  
than a minute, it had managed to get to a clearing, where it paused, looked at the tableau in front of  
it, and broke out into almost hysterical laughter.  
Lying on the floor, looking right into the slightly open mouth of a very angry panther, was  
Jess. Said panther had managed to disarm the techno, and apparently had also broken Jess' right arm  
in three places as well. After managing to calm down, which was partially hastened by Jess'  
hysterical screams for help to keep off the menu, the form walked over to the techno, looked at the  
snarling panther, and pulled out an extremely ugly handgun.  
A metallic chirp, followed by a crack of artificial thunder blew out all the windows, shattered  
every light in the warehouse, and lit the inside of the building like a strobe. 


	17. Downtime

Helmut's Base, 4:30 AM   
  
Helmut was not too annoyed at the orders Jose had given him, as he would have done the  
same thing if he had the chance. His orders were simple: find and kill Cybersix, but also capture the  
girl that had escaped earlier that week and inject her with a rather nasty chemical mix that had been  
provided to Helmut by a rather enthusiastic techno. According to the techno, the chem mix would  
cause the victim to enter a murderous rage, followed quickly by death in un-augmented creatures,  
or total mental breakdown in enhanced beings.  
Jose had also given Helmut a steel-covered hypodermic with something inside it, but only  
said that he should inject the stuff into the girl's lower abdomen. Helmut had taken that needle with  
a fair degree of trepidation, but agreed to inject the person with whatever was in the needle.  
However, that was three days ago, and now he had to deal with the knowledge that Jess' base had  
been attacked and shattered, but the albino techno seemed to be the only casualty, by dint of  
disappearance.  
Most of the survivors had straggled into Helmut's base, thereby doubling the population of  
Ideas in the abandoned apartment he had taken over. However, as the AFI that was under his  
command was currently roving for CyberSix, Helmut's only pressing need was to find the other one.  
A computer search on crime rates seemed to show several areas where the rate of Ideas being killed  
was through the roof, but the results had been skewed by the abortive assault that had killed more  
than a hundred-fifty Ideas at the park.  
Still, Helmut had four 'hot spots' to check out, so he ordered three Ideas and a techno to each  
area, with orders to be careful. After that, all he had to do was wait.  
  
Mikae's Apartment, 6:25 AM   
  
Mikae had just herself out of the shower, feeling much cleaner after she had managed to get  
the coffee grounds out of her ears. Using one of the extra-plush towels that was almost as tall as she  
was, Mikae dried off, then wrapped herself up into what could best be described as a human-sized,  
fuzzy cocoon that could walk.  
Humming to herself, she went back into her room, and sifted through her drawers for some  
clean clothes for school. After she found some, Mikae quickly pulled on the somewhat oversized  
jeans, double-wrapped a belt around her waist to hold the pants up, then pulled on a rather  
expensive-looking shirt, seeming to have once been a tank top before the creator had sewn in mesh  
sleeves and collar. Sadly, the mesh didn't cover the tattoo on her forearm that well, but Mikae didn't  
care enough to get something with enough substance to cover the black etching.  
After getting dressed, Mikae went downstairs and helped herself to a bowl of cereal, chased  
with a glassful of sustenance. By the time her mother had awakened, Mikae had actually decided to  
clean the kitchen up, and as such, the dirty dishes that had slowly accumulated due to Mikae's  
laziness had disappeared. Soon, when Sarah went downstairs to try and wake up with a mug of  
coffee, she saw that the kitchen was clean, breakfast had been laid out on a plate for her, and a small  
note was resting in the middle of the table.  
Picking up the note, Sarah read it and smiled. The note simply said, 'Can you kill the  
grounding? I've learned my lesson...' Sarah chuckled, found a pen, and wrote one word as a response  
to the question. She then sat down and started on the breakfast.  
  
Sentinel Hotel, 7:45 AM   
  
"Mom? Mom? C'mon, wake up! I'm hungry." Sebena stopped speaking when Sel rolled  
over, reached up, and hugged her. "Okay, you're awake. Can we have some food now?"  
Sel sat up, still holding her daughter, when she heard a knock on the door. Giving Sebena the  
evil eye for a second, Sel climbed out of bed, armed herself with a magnum hidden in the waistband  
of the shorts she was wearing, and walked over to the door. "Yeah, what's up?"  
"Room service, always with a smile." Sel grinned, looked through the peephole, and opened  
the door. Standing there, looking immensely odd, was Jenny, dressed in a french maid costume,  
holding a small platter of food. "Dammit, you're awake."  
"Poor baby. How are you holding up?"  
Jenny entered the room, kicking the door closed with one foot as she expertly shifted the  
platter onto a nearby table. "Well, I'd be a bit better if you weren't such a glory-hound, but that can't  
be helped, can it?"  
Sel laughed, following Jenny into the large main room. "I'm afraid it's terminal. After all,  
why worry about what will happen to me when you have your own worries, especially as you're now  
the boss of Beta."  
Jenny's smile faltered, but she noticed Sebena walking into the room, obviously attracted to  
the scent of food like a shark would be attracted to blood. "Hey kiddo, how are you? Last time I saw  
you, you were rather preoccupied."  
Sebena looked at Jenny, smiled, and proudly rolled up her left shirt sleeve to show off the  
small cut that had been caused by one of the shards of glass that had somehow been blown into the  
room when the AFI had attacked. Jenny looked at the small gash, looked at Sel's bandage-covered  
shoulders, and shrugged. "I'll take that as a 'could be better'. So, who wants some food?"  
Sebena grinned, and everyone's stomachs chose that moment to growl hungrily, prompting  
Jenny to speak. "Well, let's eat before our stomachs leave."  
Twenty minutes later, after having a rather hearty breakfast, all three people were seated  
around the table, at least for a few moments. Soon, Sel excused herself, leaving Jenny and Sebena  
alone in the large room. Jenny walked over to the bedroom, looking at the large sheet of plywood  
that covered the shattered window until a replacement could be placed.  
"So, what happened there? Judging from your mom's shoulders and back, she went through  
there at a fairly high velocity, and you have that nick on your arm, which was probably much deeper  
yesterday."  
Sebena smiled, then grabbed the remote to the TV, flipping on a kiddy show that involved  
small furry animals having large heavy objects being dropped on them. Jenny sighed, then sat down  
beside Sebena and soon started chuckling.  
Five minutes after that short attempt at conversation, Sel returned, looking fresh and mostly  
alive, albeit slightly soggy. Jenny saw her first, noted the damp strings of hair clinging to Sel's neck,  
and smiled. "So, how was the water?"  
Sel smiled. "Better than the stuff in Russia. It's actually warm enough to make me feel alive,  
instead of frozen solid."  
"So, you actually like it here. That's a rarity of any variety." Jenny grinned at Sel's chagrined  
smile.  
"Hey! How do you figure that I like this place?" Sel carefully sat down in one of the plush  
chairs, letting the cushioning conform to her body before she put pressure on her shoulders.  
Jenny grinned. "Well, first off, this is the first time anyone's seen you actually use a base of  
operations that could best be considered posh. Secondly, I saw you walking through the open-air  
market yesterday, and you were thoroughly enjoying the place."  
Sel smiled slightly. "Okay, you got me. I actually like the people here, as well as the fact that  
this place looks like it was bodily ripped right from the nineteenth century. However, before you start  
ranting at me about the dangers here, let me remind you why I like the people here. They're a lot like  
that tribe of Africans we pulled out from under the guns of those slavers three years ago. Even  
though they live, quite literally, under the shadow of death, they still live as normally as possible.  
The only problem I have with this city is all the nasty shit that's been going down."  
Jenny sighed, then asked Sebena to go somewhere so Sel and herself could talk about adult  
maters. Sebena griped for a few seconds, but stopped when Sel gave her ten dollars and the request  
for something from room service. Sebena skipped off into the bedroom, leaving Sel and Jenny alone.  
Sel spoke first. "So, what do you wanna tell me?"  
Jenny frowned, then launched into the mental list she had prepared. "Well, to be blunt, we're  
worried. We've already lost ten percent of our strength on this mission, one because of injury, and  
the other because of, well, you know." Sel frowned and nodded. "Anyhow, we're also worried about  
you. You just haven't been your old self ever since that debacle in Russia, and I think you went too  
far in bringing your daughter along to this one. Sebena just isn't trained in keeping safe, but she's  
also distracting your attention whenever she's around."  
Sel broke in, somewhat heatedly. "What? You're telling me that my own daughter's a bad  
influence on my ability to put bullets into something? Riight. You should've seen me yesterday."  
Jenny smiled slightly. "I did. You were all over the news, as well as most of that thug's  
elbow. Let me get back on track, okay?" Sel nodded, still looking slightly peeved. "I know you're  
tougher than most of us, but you're still human, and you can be killed when a bullet hits you in the  
head. Now, I know you're my boss, and you'll probably fire me for saying this, but quit with the  
vigilante missions.  
"I know you want revenge on the bastards that killed Wilson, but that's no reason to throw  
your own life away. Besides, you still have a family, and even a daughter. Most of us lost our parents  
when we were younger, and some of us have seen our siblings die as well. Look, this is one of the  
nastiest missions we've ever taken on, and we've lost Wilson, and Tsier had a concussion for a week  
after he got his pistol stolen. When was the last time we ever got mauled? Hell, Gotham was a  
cakewalk, and that was in the middle of the aftermath of both the Ebola plague there and that damn  
earthquake."  
Sel frowned, letting Jenny's words free reign inside her mind. "Fine! I'll stop the lone wolf  
routine, but you're going to have to be ready at all hours for when I go out hunting. Now, I agree that  
this place is nasty, so maybe I should tone it down a bit. Remeber, Russia was nasty because we had  
to shut down a communist coup-d'etat, and I failed in trying to pop the leader's head off. Gotham  
was nasty because of all the crazies going about, killing and eating others, including babies. Still the  
last time the team took this much punishment was when we were first founded as 'troubleshooters'.  
Remember Kabul?" Jenny winced, and looked out one of the large windows. "After all, I'm sick of  
the wanton killings going on, and want it to stop as much as anyone else, but I'll be a team player."  
Jenny grinned and hugged Sel, ignoring her watch, which was beeping rather loudly. "Now  
that's the one we remember. Look, I have to run, but I'll try to talk to you later, okay?"  
Sel nodded, so Jenny stood up, walked to the door, and left the penthouse. As soon as the  
penthouse door closed, Sel leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. Sighing, she felt a small form  
move behind her, but kept her eyes shut, just to play along. Soon, Sebena tired of waiting for Sel to  
grab her, so she jumped onto her mother, causing Sel to actually lose her breath for a few seconds.  
After managing to regain her breath, Sel looked at the smiling face above her, grinned, and mentally  
sighed. She was going to have to do something soon.  
  
Undisclosed Location, 8:20 AM   
  
Lotos Abstraction, ex-meat puppet and currently a patient under Dr. Sorbie's care, was most  
definitely getting better. Most of her memories had been restored, courtesy of judicious use of single-  
function nanomachinery to reconnect and restore the damaged nerve fibres inside her brain. Lotos  
still didn't know her real name, or most of what she had done before being turned into an assassin,  
but she really didn't care too much about her past.  
Currently, she was sitting at a desk, trying to remember how to use a computer. After pecking  
away at the keys for almost an hour, she had managed to figure out most of the basic functions, but  
still couldn't figure out the more advanced functions or the few games that had been put on the  
antiquated machine. Looking through the silvered window on one side of the room, Lotos smiled as  
she carefully went through the total shut down sequence, then leaned back, cracked her knuckles,  
and flipped the bird at the heavy screen.  
She then stood up, letting her lanky frame stride to the door while her left hand slowly  
caressed the almost invisible scar running the length of her bare midriff. She sighed as the door  
opened, but didn't let any of the inner turmoil of knowing what she had been forced to do show on  
her expressive face. The only response to Lotos' actions was a small camera mounted in the ceiling  
tracking her as she walked down to her assigned room.  
  
Meridiana High School, 8:42 AM   
  
Classes hadn't started yet, so Adrian was sitting at his desk, nursing a rather impressive  
bruise covering most of his right forearm. At that time, Lucas was sitting directly opposite of the  
smaller teacher, looking at the rather painful-looking bruise.  
"Well, how did that happen?" Lucas was actually chewing on an apple as he spoke, gently  
probing the mass of swollen and purple flesh with surprisingly gentle touches. Adrian gritted his  
teeth as Lucas accidentally touched one part that was exceptionally painful, but he didn't flinch too  
much.  
"Well, you know where that bank robbery was last night?" Seeing Lucas nod as he pulled out  
a tensor bandage from one of the desk drawers, Adrian continued. "Well, I decided to see what was  
going on, and ended at a warehouse, which decided to try and end me by launching me through a  
window after being clouted by a crane's hook. That's about all I can remember, but at least my hat  
survived."  
Lucas chuckled as he carefully wrapped Adrian's arm with the tensor. "You know what?  
You're more concerned with your hat than you are about yourself. Maybe you should take a break  
from the crime-fighting scene and relax for a week or three."  
Adrian smiled slightly, then winced as Lucas pulled the bandage together so he could place  
the metal tabs that would keep it from unravelling. "Well, I am planning on a bit of a vacation in  
about five months."  
Lucas's right eyebrow raised itself as he finished his rough job of keeping pressure on the  
bruise, and he looked up at his friend. "Really? May I ask why?"  
Adrian grinned. "Considering that you're the cause of it, I should tell you. There's going to  
be a new member of the family in about eight months."  
Lucas nearly fainted, but grinned sheepishly as he looked at his friend. "Well,  
congratulations. I hope the munchkin will be healthy, and I'll probably see him or her at the time."  
He stood up, wobbled slightly, and exited the room, leaving Adrian to sit there and study the  
placement of the bandage.  
Adrian smiled after Lucas left the room and muttered quietly to himself "Well, I thought he  
would've dome something more like himself, such as squeeze me to death in a hug or something like  
that. Still, I'm betting that it was a great shock for him to hear that, so I'll give him a bit of leeway  
to recover."  
  
Jose's Mansion, 9:22 AM   
  
Mel was walking from the mess hall to the armoury, in order to collect his quad rocket  
launcher, when he heard something coming from Jose's room. Moving quietly for all his bulk, Mel  
carefully pressed up against the wall and listened to the barely intelligible words that were  
unmistakably Jose's.  
Mel carefully snuck closer, and listened to some more of Jose's ranting, but he managed to  
get the gist of the message. Slowly, he moved back to his original position, then started to  
deliberately clomp down the hallway in his heavy boots. As he passed Jose's office, Mel stole a  
quick glance inside, just in time to see Jose stab at a few keys on the keyboard in front of him. Mel  
continued on, and collected his rocket launcher before continuing on his assigned rounds.  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 4:30 PM   
  
Dr. Zack entered his house, and closed the door just in time to keep from letting the  
neighbours hear the loud, echoing, and pained roar that rattled the windowpanes all the way through  
the ground floor.  
Hurriedly, he locked the door, dropped his briefcase on the floor, and headed down to the  
basement, where he managed to barely avoid cardiac arrest only by closing his eyes for several  
seconds and clearing his mind of the glimpse of the devastation he had seen before nearly fainting.  
After recovering (somewhat), Dr. Zack walked over to the very pissed off and irritable form that was  
slung up between two large hammocks, and looked quietly down on the heavily bandaged panther  
that still managed to glare at him.  
"Well, it seems you're in good health. Are you still pissed about my having to give you a bald  
spot to stitch your head wound? Trust me, it could have been much worse than a creased scalp." Dr.  
Zack carefully scratched behind Data 7's left ear, causing the feline instincts to come into play, and  
making the big cat start purring.  
Dr. Zack smiled to himself as he remembered Data 7's total lack of co-operation when he had  
to stitch the wound, but considering that most of the warehouse's supply of glass had landed on 7,  
much of it in small, sharp pieces, the scalp wounds were comparatively minor. Sighing, Dr. Zack  
stretched to his full height, then walked over to his firing range to collect his 'peashooter' from the  
relatively small worktable near the back of his cavernous basement.  
"Well, you can stay put for a while, can't you? I'll try and scrounge up a Quaren or two for  
ya." Data 7 tried to look at Dr. Zack, and his eyes were asking the obvious question: 'Okay, is he  
totally nuts, or just acting like it? Then again, a bit of genetically enhanced teen might cleanse the  
palate between mignons.'  
After that silent comment from Data 7, Dr. Zack went upstairs and called up the police  
headquarters for some information. One hour later, he was standing, in the rain, just outside the  
Sentinel Hotel. He looked up at the penthouse, nearly hidden by the low clouds and the dull, iron-  
grey skies that continued to discharge its sooty payload onto both the squalid and the beautiful.  
Sighing, he looked at the entrance of the hotel and made his decision. Steeling himself for  
another 'conversation', he walked into the lobby. 


	18. Conversation and Corruption

Sentinel Hotel, 4:45 PM   
  
The elevator stopped at the top of the hotel with a cheerful ping, allowing Dr. Zack to remove  
himself from the strains of John Tesh music that were still floating from the open doors of the small  
chamber. However, he had noted, with some amusement, that the area around the speakers had been  
massively dented, as if someone had taken a shotgun to the works. *No loss. As far as I'm  
concerned, John Tesh is as bad as Michael Jackson or some such.*  
Sighing, he walked over to the least ornate door with a number on it and politely knocked  
on it, earning a small static jolt from the carpet as he heard a muffled noise from the other side of  
the door. The door opened after a few seconds, and the sound resolved itself to a Marilyn Manson  
CD blasting out something that could be considered music underscored by vehement volley of  
curses. Standing inside the doorway was the woman that he wanted to talk to, rubbing her left shin  
where a red mark was easily visible.  
"Good day Miss Naryen. May I come in?" Dr. Zack removed his hat as he inclined his head  
towards her, then straightened as Sel looked at him.  
She shrugged after about ten seconds of contemplation, and nodded towards the largish room  
behind her with a jerk of her head. "Come on in. Just watch out for the damn coffee table. The damn  
thing's made of teak, is fairly sharp, and exceedingly immovable." She moved around the offending  
table, absently kicking one of the legs with her left foot as she passed it on her course to flop into  
one of the chairs. Dr. Zack followed closely, taking off his soaked coat and placing it, along with his  
hat on a small table beside the door, which he closed behind him.  
Sel had already planted herself in a chair that looked like it could engulf her, and had picked  
up a book so she could place a bookmark in the piece. After doing so, and replacing the book, she  
looked up at Dr. Zack, who had moved around to sit in the other chair. "So, what do you want?"  
Dr. Zack looked at Sel, who seemed to be even smaller because she wasn't wearing the thick,  
formless trenchcoat that had completely hidden her body the last time they had met. "Well, I would  
like to talk to you about a few things, but I would like to counsel you on the source of these attacks."  
Sel leaned forwards, letting her chin rest on her interlaced fingers as she raised her eyebrows.  
"Okay, you have my attention. Of course, I'd just suffice for cutting down on the population of those  
brutes, not to mention destroying the hulks that killed my best friend."  
Dr. Zack leaned back slightly, then mentally sighed and looked out at the grey skies visible  
through the sheets of rain pounding against the windows. "Well, I can agree that your sentiment of  
driving these creatures back from where they came is a good idea. However, there are some in the  
city that do the same job, and I might add, for several years before your men and women showed up,  
but they need those creatures to survive. Secondly, there are at least two bases currently running on  
the west and east ends of the city, as the rash of crimes in those areas seems to attest."  
Dr. Zack paused as Sel smiled and shook her head. "There were two. Now there's only one,  
and the apparent weapon specialist of the opposing force is now either sitting in my briefcase as a  
glow stick, or bewing played with by my little angel." Sel paused, stood up, and moved to a slightly  
ajar doorway, where she peeked in on a blanket draped over two chairs, and smiled at the now-  
familiar green glow that was emanating from under the blanket. She grinned and returned to her seat,  
followed by a giggle. "They may be genetically engineered, but a gauss slug will still put a hole in  
them."  
Dr. Zack winced at the mental image, then looked at Sel again. His mental estimation of her  
wavered for a few seconds, then dropped her into 'serial-killer' category. "Well, now that you've  
managed to destroy my appetite for dinner, please let me continue." Sel nodded and continued  
looking at her guest. "As I was saying, there's at least one base that is being exceptionally  
problematic, as its apparent population has doubled over the last day and a half."  
Sel raised her right hand, looking more than slightly child-like as she did so. "Hold up. How  
do you get all this information? I'm guessing an insider of some sort, but about every one of the  
creatures I've met has been fanatically loyal to their leader, up to and including death."  
Dr. Zack chuckled slightly, then looked out the window again. "Not quite. Remember when  
one of your other team members was clouted over the head hard enough to knock him silly for a  
week? If the being that had hit your teammate been totally loyal to our mutual pain in the ass, you  
would have been at two funerals instead of just one. Also, how else could have I told your late friend  
where the stolen weapon was at? I don't have the ability to find something just by thinking about it  
and hoping it would drop into my hand someday."  
Sel smiled, then sighed and leaned back, stretching her arms forwards as she did so. "You  
remind me of my grandfather, even though you're at least ten years younger. He used to tell me that  
finding things was half the fun, and the other half was to put them to good use. That's why he hid  
my birthday presents, making it immensely interesting to try and find them before I could play with  
them."  
Dr. Zack smiled slightly. "You seem to have had an interesting childhood, and one that would  
probably be better suited for living peacefully instead of travelling the world, killing evil troglodytes  
and warlords."  
Sel grinned. "Considering that I'm taking a nice, long leave of absence after this mission's  
over, I'm going to have a long talk with my boss about wether or not I'll stay on as head of this part  
of the company. Personally, I'm thinking on going into weapons research or forensic osteo-  
pathology."  
"Those are both good fields of study, but I think you'd rather stay with your family and live  
peacefully for a good long time." Dr. Zack stood up, glancing at his watch. "Actually, I have one  
question for you. What weapons do you use, as a matter of preference?"  
Sel smiled. "Depends on what I have to kill. If it's fast, deadly, and unarmoured, Spartan  
ammo in any of my handguns will make short work of it. The armoured stuff gets hammered by  
gauss slugs from either the pistol or rifle, and hardpoints in buildings get to be smashed by the  
portable particle cannons we use."  
Dr. Zack's eyes were slowly doubling in size as Sel finished listing the weapons she used  
with alarming flippancy. "You are one remarkable woman, but I guess you've already known that.  
I'm sorry, but I have to take my leave of you, but I'll ask one of my friends to visit you tonight, if  
she's feeling up to snuff." He turned to leave, mentally thankful that she hadn't mentioned his pistol  
under his sweater.  
"Doc?" Dr. Zack turned back to Sel, who had stood up and was holding her hand out  
expectantly. "May I see your gun?"  
Sighing, he pulled the pistol out of its place under his shirt and handed it over. Sel looked  
at the small weapon, then sighted down through the v-blade sights and checked the heft of the long-  
barrelled pistol as she aimed at one of the over-painted and garish pictures on the far wall. "Nice gun.  
Used it in the Olympics last year?"  
Dr. Zack grimaced, then nodded. "And the trials five years ago. The people who turned the  
setscrews on my gun were greatly displeased the second time, as I still managed to get dangerously  
close to a gold."  
Sel smiled and handed back the pistol. "Well, it may be good for target shooting, but I prefer  
something with punch to it. No offense, but that thing can't even knock over a pigeon. Here, I want  
you to have something as a bit of a backup, especially as keeping you alive seems to be a good idea  
if I want more information about our mutual pain." Sel turned to the closet by the front door, opened  
up the latticed wood, and pulled out a small box, which she promptly placed in Dr. Zack's hands.  
"Watch out for this one, as I've used it for almost six years. Just make sure you don't  
overload the capacitor by firing faster than six shots in a second. This one uses two millimetre spikes  
in sixty-round clips, loaded through the grip, each of which are fired at about Mach twelve. If you  
have an uninvited visitor, that'll end up turning him or her into a blood slurpee faster than they can  
say 'ouch'. Just be careful, and give it a few test shots at home, with ear protection. Oh yeah, better  
luck next time on the Olympics. Hell, we might meet." Sel grinned, opened the door, and generously  
shooed Dr. Zack out, with him holding his coat and hat in one hand, the box tucked under his other  
arm, and holding his pistol quite neatly in his right hand.  
Sighing again, he rearranged himself so he would only be holding the box with the gauss  
pistol inside, and started on his trip home.  
  
Helmut's Base, 7:20 PM   
  
Helmut wasn't too badly annoyed at the overcrowding in his base, or the rampant stupidity  
of the FIs that were assigned as lookouts, as those two problems were being picked off with alarming  
regularity. In actuality, he was pissed at the fact that he was totally pinned down in the warehouse  
complex because what seemed like every member of the special-ops team in the city was sitting on  
adjacent rooftops, sniping everything they could see that was big, green and ugly.  
Secondly, he had heard from one of his technos, who told him that the objective had been  
seen, but before he could tell the techno to pursue and retrieve the objective, a well-placed gauss slug  
had destroyed his only high-power radio transmitter. So, not only was he cut off from his outside  
observers, but he also couldn't contact Jose for reinforcements to break the siege. The only thing he  
didn't need was sustenance. Most of his troops had been cannibalizing the stuff from their dead  
brethren.  
As he looked out over the ammo dump to where a Fixed Idea was busy blasting at a nearby  
building that housed at least one of the damn snipers, he heard a dull, echoing boom, followed by  
the Idea's head disintegrating in a mushy splatter of gore, bone shards, and blood, which created a  
hideous, wet squishy-sounding 'Spplorrk' as the bits and pieces splattered everywhere around the  
headless corpse. Sighing, he turned away from the silent flare of light as the body disintegrated, and  
looked at the two pills he had set on the table beside the two syringes.  
Both were highly experimental, but they could just keep him alive long enough to allow him  
to finish his secondary mission. Moving quickly as he heard a volley of slugs smash their way  
through the thin walls of the warehouse, Helmut downed both pills, hid the syringes under his shirt,  
and fainted. Outside, in the main section of the warehouse, volleys of gauss fire had torn apart the  
walls, and the last few pockets of resistance had been shredded by sustained bursts from five or six  
of the rifles. Overall, there had been no fatalities on the offensive force, primarily because of the  
immensely accurate fire of the four snipers, but also because of the almost-suicidal stunts of the  
armoured form with long white hair that led the attack.  
While the police catalogued the ammunition and weapons found in the warehouse, the three  
minor injuries were quickly treated and any survivors were 'collected' for interrogation. Helmut was  
found, and, not knowing any better, the troopers just unceremoniously wrapped his supposedly dead  
body in a garbage bag and tossed him into a dumpster. Twenty minutes later, Helmut tore open the  
bag, gasping for air, and was suddenly buried under about five hundred pounds of smashed guns and  
debris.  
Almost an hour passed by before he could claw his way to the top of the heap, but he  
managed to drop out of the dumpster and stagger away before anyone could see him. Cursing to  
himself, he felt a drop of wetness near the small of his back, and realized that one of the two syringes  
had been destroyed. Pulling out both, he tossed away the syringe that had been destroyed, and looked  
at the one he had left. The small blue tag on the side told him which one he had, and so he headed  
towards the last known location of the techno that had spotted his secondary objective.  
  
Mikae's Home, 9:50 PM   
  
Mikae had managed to waste more time than usual keeping away from studying for her  
classes, but also managed to observe the sporadic firefights raging through the city by sitting on the  
roof and watching for the strobe-like flashes of rockets exploding, as well as the laser-like streamers  
of machine gun tracers. Sighing, she leaned back so she could look at the night skies, but could  
barely pick out the individual stars above her because of the fires and occasional explosion that lit  
the area to the south.  
Mikae sighed, but didn't tilt her head to look at the explosions as she heard several sirens cut  
through the night. However, she was on her feet in a flash when six dull thumps shook the tiles under  
her back, and sighed in irritation when she realized she was surrounded. The four Fixed Ideas that  
had surrounded her moved in, unmindful of her half-smile or flattened hands, which she knew could  
cut through flesh and bone as well as any knife.  
Mikae moved first, striking out at the Idea behind her with her left foot in a crippling strike.  
That is, if it had connected. The Idea saw the blow coming, and grabbed her foot, making Mikae  
overbalance and fall onto her butt when she wrenched herself free. While on her back, she flexed  
backwards, and spun around on her left shoulder, clearing a five-foot area around her with a spiral  
kick.  
Standing up, Mikae waited to see what would happen next, and was prepared when one Idea  
moved in a bit and swung at her mid-section. She had to use both hands to deflect the powerful blow,  
but that left her open, as she realized when the Idea behind her reached in and clouted her upside the  
back of the head hard enough to make spots dance in front of her eyes. Shaking her head to clear her  
thoughts, Mikae stumbled to the side, right into the arms of the third idea, which put her in a full  
nelson, nearly breaking her arms in the process.  
The fourth idea, which was the one that had been first attacked in the first place, then moved  
in, pulling a few right-right-left combos to Mikae's stomach and ribs, causing her to double over in  
agony, even though she was still firmly held upright. Finally, after the pounding had ended, she felt  
something jab into her lower abdomen, and a sickening feeling filled her as the pain receded and the  
four Ideas retreated, leaving her bloodied, bruised, and battered as all six forms disappeared into the  
night. 


	19. Allies or Enemies?

Meridiana High School, 8:30 AM   
  
"Lori! Get the hell back here with my jacket!" Mikae charged after the fleet-of foot teen,  
knocking younger students out of the way as the gang leader almost flew into a classroom, the  
offending jacket flapping freely behind her. Mikae wasn't that far behind her though, and proved her  
agility when she vaulted over two desks and landed on Lori's lower back with almost crushing force.  
"Now... Give. Me. Back. My. Jacket, before I rip your fucking face off and ram it down your   
fucking throat!" Lori looked up at Mikae, a smile playing across her face for only a second before  
she saw Mikae's eyes. Instead of being their normal icy blue shade, which sometimes darkened to  
an almost sky-blue shade when she was feeling mischievous, her irises were almost swimming in  
a sea of red.  
Lori just stared at Mikae's face for a few seconds, but was suddenly jolted back into reality  
when Mikae literally picked her up, and made ready to use Lori as a javelin from the second-floor  
window. "Y'know Lori, I've always wondered how far an idiot would fly when assisted. Let's try  
it out." Mikae hoisted Lori into the air quite easily, but stopped when Lori waved the jacket in front  
of her face.  
"Okay! I give! I'll give you back the jacket! Now, can you please put me down?" Mikae  
reached out with her free hand, plucked the jacket from Lori's grasp, and smiled.  
"I was planning on taking the jacket from you anyhow, considering I don't like my stuff  
going through plate glass. Of course, considering that your face will go through first, I don't think  
closing your eyes will help any." Just as Mikae was hauling back for the toss, Skeeter, Lingo and  
Jitter, Lori's three favoured gang members, landed on Mikae with enough force to drop the  
seemingly-psychotic teen to the floor. Skeeter, the heaviest by far, was sitting on the middle of  
Mikae's back, but wasn't having much luck maintaining his position as king of the pile, primarily  
because the base of the heap was moving around faster than a greased eel.  
Almost before anyone could register what had happened, Mikae was again standing up, and  
all three members of the gang were lying against the far wall, moaning in pain. Just as Mikae again  
moved towards Lori, two iron-like hands grasped her wrists and halted all forwards motion. She  
turned her head to see who or what had grappled her so quickly, and saw Adrian's unsmiling face.  
As Lori watched, Mikae seemed to deflate, her obvious anger and rage disappearing almost instantly  
under the cool anger that could be seen in Adrian's eyes.  
"Science office. Now." Adrian released Mikae's hands, and she meekly headed in the  
direction of the office. Adrian then turned to Lori and gently helped her up. "Are you all right?" Lori  
nodded, gently massaging the deep purple marks already forming on her throat and arm.  
"I will be after about a month of sleep. Damn, what put a bat up her nightdress? I only swiped  
the jacket as a prank." Lori coughed slightly, then smiled sheepishly, looking up at the person she  
once had a hopeless crush on.  
"Well, obviously, it nearly ended with your face looking like you had been mugged by a  
cheese grater. Sometimes I think she's in over her head in stuff that nobody should get into. Lori,  
right now, I think it's best for all of us if you give Mikae a lot of distance."  
Lori fervently agreed, and after reviving the still-mauled members of the gang, she left the  
somewhat wrecked room. Adrian looked at the devastation that was so easily apparent, shook his  
head, and walked over to the science office. Opening the door, he poked his head inside for a split  
second, pulled it back, and narrowly avoided being soaked by a jarful of formaldehyde. After the jar  
had finished splattering all over the door, Adrian opened the door again, walked into the small office,  
and smiled slightly.  
"Well, now that you've managed to wreck all of Lucas' work, not to mention nearly killing  
Lori, would you like to explain yourself?" Mikae seemed to be in an uncontrollable rage, but seemed  
to calm down slightly when Adrian walked over and simply cracked Mikae across the forehead with  
a right jab, stunning her. Mikae's eyes cleared up slightly, leaving her irises to revert to their normal  
colour, but her corneas were still bright red. "Now, care to tell me why you're more psychotic than  
Jose?"  
Mikae shook her head, trying to clear something from her mind, but only gasped in pain  
before collapsing. Adrian gaped for a second, then dove over to the small phone inset into the wall  
beside the door. *What the? She's tougher than that. Hell, a tap like that would only daze her for a  
few seconds.* muttering quietly, Adrian turned back to the phone and dialled an oft-used number.  
  
Jose's Mansion, 10:30 AM   
  
The large Fixed Idea easily shouldered its way through the small groups of technos that  
dotted the halls, holding a sheaf of papers in its right hand, a rocket launcher slung over its left  
shoulder. The Idea paused in front of the double doors leading to Jose's office, sighed under its  
breath, and knocked loudly, right before opening the door.  
Jose jumped up at the intrusion, ready to tear a strip out of the intruder, but stopped when he  
noticed the papers in its hand. "What in hell are those? Never mind. Give them to me!"  
The Idea placed the papers on Jose's desk, then left the room as fast as possible. Jose looked  
through the papers, chuckling at some, but a small handwritten note halfway through the heap caught  
his eye. He read the note three times, memorizing every word, then gave it to Helmut, who had  
arrived as he was reading. "What do you think is meant by this?"  
Helmut took the note and read it for himself. "'To all ye who enter this abode, run the  
gauntlet to find the person ye seek.' Well, it looks like the kicker for an old-fashioned quest, but I  
wouldn't know why the hell it would be in the middle of these things. What are these anyhow?  
Fatality reports?"  
Jose snorted derisively. "Would I be reading these if they were fatality reports? No, I'd make  
a techno read it and give me the most important information. They're blueprints for the Sentinel  
Hotel. Considering that the note was taped to the top floor, I think we can figure out where the leader  
of that damned force is at. Now, the only question is whether we can kill her before she tries to kill  
us."  
Helmut grinned slightly, then shook his head. "Well, we'd better think of something,  
considering that I reactivated the X-1 programming, as well as injecting the subject with that  
systematic psychosis drug. I assume by now that she's already managed to tear at least one person  
apart."  
Jose grinned, then turned back to the blueprints. "I want that commander dead, and hopefully  
the ones I'm sending there will also kill off everything else."  
Helmut chuckled. "Well, wouldn't it be better to send in a few technos, rig the basement with  
a few tons of C-4 and bring the entire building down on their heads? Lots of collateral damage, lots  
of killing, and the thorn in our side will be quite dead."  
Jose laughed, long and loud. "Good idea! I'm glad I thought of it! Helmut, grab the first four  
technos you see. You're going on a wrecking crew."  
Helmut sighed. "Yes sir." *You fucking moron. You'd go for a repeat of what happened at  
the park, and then what? We'd be totally defenceless, and there would be no money or weapons to  
arm our Ideas.* he sighed again, then turned and left the office, wondering who he would select for  
the sabotage.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital, 11:20 AM   
  
Reba ducked suddenly as one of the reinforced straps holding Mikae's arms down snapped,  
sending fragments of leather and metal flying across the room. Swearing under her breath, Reba  
easily avoided being cut by the sharper bits that pelted her, and watched with a slight amount of  
amusement as three immensely strong security guards piled onto Mikae, trying to restrain the now-  
dangerous teen.  
"Christ on a crutch! She's stronger than an ox! Doc, you'd better get that mood stabilizer  
ready, or we're gonna be forced to taze her." Reba heard a wet cracking sound, followed by a  
strangled gasp, so she turned, tapped the needle twice to remove any air pockets, and rammed it into  
Mikae's leg, emptying the chemical stabilizer into the teen's system. Mikae's struggles became  
weaker, and she soon stopped trying to fight her way free.  
The three guards all moved carefully away, one of them cradling his right wrist where blood  
had begun to seep through between his fingers. "Jim?" the guard looked down at Reba, then squatted  
so she could look at his injury without straining either the wound or her neck. Reba carefully and  
gently examined Jim's wrist, noting that it was a rather serious fracture, as three bones were totally  
crushed, and several splinters had gone right through the skin. "Ouch. Look, I have to make sure she  
doesn't get free and pull another stunt, so head down to Hemstreet. He'll be able to help you more  
than I can, at least right now."  
Jim nodded, and moving carefully, he left the room. The other two men securely bound  
Mikae to the bed again, making sure that the drip feed in her arm stayed put, keeping her nice and  
tranquillized until everyone could find out what had happened.  
  
Sentinel Hotel, 3:47 PM   
  
Helmut and the four technos were in the parking garage of the hotel, and they were 'altering'  
several of the maintenance panels in the concrete pillars supporting the massive building above them.  
"Three more after this one, and when we blow this place it'll telescope right into the dirt.  
Ever see the WTC collapse?" The technos nodded among themselves, evil grins plastered all over  
their faces as one wired the ten-pound block of C-4 into the wiring that ran up into the hotel before  
replacing the metal cover. The techno then wired a proximity switch, calibrated to go off if there was  
any motion within six inches of the bomb larger than that of a rat.  
Helmut finished supervising that pillar's alterations, than ran over to the last three pylons  
which he had marked with pieces of chalk before anything else had been done. He chuckled to  
himself, then heard the elevator's chime ring out. Helmut hid behind the pillar, keeping away from  
the opening doors of the elevator, and could barely suppress some laughter when he heard the  
exchange between the two people  
"Mooommm! I'm borrred! And my feet hurt! Why are we down here?"  
"Well, if your feet are sore, I'll carry you for a few minutes, but we're down here to try and  
find out where those goons stashed the motorbike I rented. I wanted to go for a ride, and probably  
take you along as well."  
"Really? You'd do that? Maybe you can find it through the key remote in your pocket."  
"Oh yeah." A muffled giggle followed, and Helmut carefully peeped out from behind his  
hiding place. He saw what could only be described as the most interesting pair to have his eyes ever  
set upon them. The taller one was easily five and a half feet tall, and was wearing tight-fitting leather  
pants and a tank top. However, Helmut's eyes were drawn to the person's face, which, according to  
him, was one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen.  
Helmut stared for a few seconds, mentally removing the one blemish he could see, and just  
absorbed the image into his mind. He actually had to pry his eyes away, as he looked down at the  
small child standing right beside the woman. Helmut's gaze flicked back and forth between the two,  
and he realized the girl, when grown up, would be a dead ringer for her mother.  
Ducking back behind the pillar, he let out a long sigh, and looked up at the ceiling. He waited  
for ten more minutes as his technos continued their work, then heard the elevator doors open, with  
the young girl complaining about not being allowed to go because she had deflated all the tires on  
a car. The doors hung for a few seconds, then closed. Mentally shaking his head, Helmut listened  
as the woman started up a motorcycle, and he sighed in relief as the cycle tore out of the garage,  
sounding like it had peeled rubber all the way up the ramp. He then went over to the last wired  
section and took the detonator from the willing hands of the techno. He twisted the knob on the  
detonator to set the time, then pushed the little red button to activate the timer.  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 4:25 PM   
  
Data 7 was at least moving about enough to irritate Dr. Zack, as the immensely strong  
panther was busy emptying Dr. Zack's latest supply of filet mignon and T-bone steaks. However,  
considering the pile of cooked meat on a platter for the damn cat, it seemed that 7 was milking his  
injury for all it was worth.  
Dr. Zack didn't seem to mind too much about the panther emptying his freezer of meat, as  
he was busy puzzling over the unique gift given him by Miss Del Naryen. Currently, he was sitting  
in front of one of the many computers in his basement, studying the readout on what the damage  
scaling of the gauss pistol could do to differing substances.  
The readout was relatively simple, showing in a bar graph what would happen if the spikes  
fired hit flesh, metal, or wood. Overall, metal took the least damage, but even then at least six inches  
would be totally vaporized from the impact of the spike alone, not counting the variables such as  
kinetic energy, the possibility of plasma-based disintegration, and other nasty little surprises.  
Just as he finished studying the readout, he heard the doorbell ring, followed by a muffled  
volley of curses, which surprised him, not because he could hear the cursing, but because every word  
was heard loudly and clearly. Standing up, he looked at the CCTV image of what was standing at  
the front porch, and smiled slightly at the image of Sel standing there, looking very pissed off.  
He smiled slightly, and, walking upstairs, wondered what the young commander could be up  
to. He opened the door, and stared for a second at the sight of Sel looking about as dishevelled as  
humanly possible. "Miss Naryen! It's umm... good to see you. So, would you come in?"  
Sel smiled slightly, then stepped into the house, consciously making an effort to try and avoid  
kicking the door, which would have likely broken her foot. "Well, it'd be a bit less surprising if you  
didn't have the damn video camera trying to look down to my navel when I was waiting. Still,  
considering the so-called folklore about the security system here, I was wondering if I could talk with  
you for a while."  
Dr. Zack nodded, then heard something behind him that caused Sel to stiffen slightly and  
reach for something hidden under her jacket. Dr. Zack looked behind him to see Data 7's body  
detatch itself from the shadows and he carefully placed himself between the Panther and Sel.  
"What the hell's that cat doing here? It your pet or something?" Sel slowly tried to relax,  
visibly tensing her fingers before removing them from the gun she had almost pulled. Dr. Zack  
grinned slightly, then removed the bandage wrapped around Data 7's head. He examined the almost-  
healed wound that had carved a gouge out of Data 7's right eyebrow, then slapped the panther on the  
side before the cat slunk out of the still-open front door.  
"No, he's not my pet, and I'm betting that he's still holding a grudge against the person who  
nearly took his head off a few days ago. Still, he's a good friend, despite his idea of fun being to clear  
out my entire stock of filet mignon."  
Sel grinned and pulled her hand free from her jacket. "Well, if you vouch for something like  
that, I guess I'll trust the furball. Oh yeah, just so you know, he would have gotten away without a  
scratch if he hadn't turned his head at the last second."  
Dr. Zack's eyes increased in size slightly, and he smiled. "Well, at least I now know that his  
injury was an accident. So, what would you like to talk about?"  
Sel smiled and closed the door. "I thought you'd never ask." 


	20. Prelude to Destruction

Graveyard of the Trinity Church, 8:47 PM   
  
Sel had decided to stop at Wilson's grave, feeling guilty about not being there to help him  
when he had really needed it. As she pulled over at the wrought-iron gate to the graveyard, turning  
off the rented motorcycle, she looked into the graveyard and thought she saw someone or something  
moving near the still-fresh earth of Wilson's grave.  
Frowning, she got off of the bike and walked into the graveyard, easily keeping out of the  
sight of the being near the grave. Sel reached into her jacket, slowly and carefully removing one of  
the magnums from the underarm holster before aiming at the back of the crouching form. Just as she  
flicked the safety off, Sel looked through the small scope mounted on the gun and realized that it was  
nothing more harmful than a little old lady with a bunch of flowers.  
Sel blushed up the her hairline, and safed the gun before replacing it in its holster. Sel then  
started moving towards the grave, watching carefully as the old woman slowly bent over, obviously  
painfully, and gently placed the small bunch of flowers on the ground in front of the grave. Sel  
moved next to the woman and helped her stand.  
The woman looked up at Sel, a few tears gathering in her cloudy eyes. She slowly reached  
out and patted Sel's forearm, so gently that Sel could barely feel it. The woman smiled, making her  
face crinkle into a sea of wrinkles and laugh lines, and making her look even more like a great-  
grandmother.  
Sel smiled and leaned over, gently planting a kiss on the woman's right cheek. Whispering,  
she then said "Thank you. He was a good friend." The woman smiled again and slowly hobbled  
towards the gate, using a long cane to keep upright.  
Sel watched the woman walk out into the darkness of the city, then turned to the simple  
marble stone that had been carefully etched engraved. She slowly knelt onto the moist ground,  
feeling the dampness of the grass begin to soak through the knees of her pants almost instantly. "Hey  
Will. Well, I haven't really tried to talk to anyone upstairs lately, and I'm not really over what had  
happened to you. Still, I'm trying to kick the asses of the ones who actually managed what six  
different armies over the last eight years failed to do. Hey, if you're watching, try to root for the good  
guys, huh? I think I want all the luck as I can get over here. I miss you, and so does Sebena. If it's  
possible, try to visit somehow."  
Sel stood up, looking down at the grave. As she did, she realized that there were close to sixty  
bunches of flowers lined up on the ground. Some flowers were older and slightly withered, but most  
of them were new and still bright. Sel smiled slightly and stood up. She then walked back to where  
the bike had been parked, and didn't even swear when she saw that some little bastard had stolen the  
damn thing. Instead, she started walking towards the Sentinel's impressive spire.  
  
Sentinel Hotel, 9:00 PM   
  
The digital clock in the hotel parking garage hit 9:00, and less than three seconds later, all  
sixteen of the doctored pillars blew up, perfectly synchronised with each other. The effects of the  
blasts were compounded by the close confines of the parking garage, battering the surviving pillars  
and producing huge chunks of concrete that simply flaked off from the rebars, warping the high-  
tensile steel. Less than five minutes later, as most of the tenants were beginning to evacuate the  
building, the weakened pillars finally gave way, severing all the supports for that level of the garage.  
With a crackling groan, sounding almost like bones being stressed too far, the entire building  
lurched straight down by about twelve feet. Of the people in the lobby, almost all of them were either  
impaled upon the jagged spines of rebar that suddenly smashed through the floor or crushed when  
the second floor pancaked onto them. The exterior of the hotel was actually built to survive getting  
whacked by a 747 jumbo, but the lurching impact into the ground, followed up by the  
(comparatively) minor collapse of the second floor managed to weaken almost all of the structural  
braces holding the building together.  
Most of the people on the top floors, namely Sebena and the swarm (her name for them) as  
well as several smarter tourists, had decided to go to the roof so they could at least figure out a way  
to get out of the building before it collapsed. Jenny was currently the most precariously balanced,  
as she was standing on the top of the parallel bars that made up the fence, looking down towards the  
nearest building below her. Looking back towards the rest of the team, she grimaced as another  
tremor rattled through the building, making her think that five more floors had decided to visit the  
lobby.  
Jenny hopped back to the slowly buckling roof and looked at the cluster of people on the roof  
around her. Sebena was looking down at the streets almost two hundred feet below, then suddenly  
scrambled backwards as a form easily vaulted up and over the railing, landing with a dull thud in the  
middle of the roof. Less than a second later, a large panther also managed to vault over the rail,  
making everyone there go for their guns, most of which were most definitely modified.  
Instead of attacking, the woman stood up, letting the moonlight reflect off of the large,  
slightly floppy fedora she was wearing, Sebena recognised her first, and dashed out of Jenny's  
protective embrace, hugging the woman. She then turned to everyone with a gun out and said, quite  
loudly; "This woman saved my mommy, so you'd better be nice now."  
Six smiled slightly, bent over to Sebena and whispered something to the child. The reaction  
was slightly shocked, but Sebena was already grinning at the anticipation. Six said, just loudly  
enough to be overheard by Jenny; "He's got a soft spot for kids. Trust me, okay?"  
Just as Six finished speaking, Something else vaulted over the railing, landing less than two  
feet from Six when she did. Sel just shook off the clinging dust that was stuck to her hands, looked  
around, and produced her trademark 'Glare of Chilling Death' She then shook her head. "Now, could  
anybody here tell me why the only person getting people off this roof isn't a team member?!? Get  
your gear ready, grab a civvie, and follow her." Sel pointed at Six, who was already clambering over  
the railing, in preparation to jumping off.  
Jenny grinned as Sel easily took command of the situation, but paused when Sel actually  
went back down into the hotel, seemingly looking for something. Jenny tried to contact Sel through  
the integral radio system in her own armour, but didn't get a reply. However, less than five minutes  
later, Sel reappeared, easily carrying a large case in one hand. She didn't even shake her head when  
she realized that only herself and Jenny, the rest of the team having taken Sel's orders nicely and left  
the building.  
Sel tossed Jenny the case, looked for Sebena for a second before remembering that the big  
panther had carried her daughter away from the roof at an amazing speed, and started clambering  
down the building, dropping easily from spar to spar. Just as Sel and Jenny reached the fifteenth  
floor, they ran out of spars and the building tried to fall over onto them. Sel jumped first, free-falling  
the hundred-fifty feet towards the ground seemingly without a care in the world. However, just as  
she reached the fifty-foot mark, followed quickly by Jenny, Sel simply extended her left arm, letting  
her trademark jagged spike extend from her wrist right before plunging the reactive metal spine into  
the wall, slowing her descent.  
Even with the assistance caused by the spike, Sel knew she was about to get squished by the  
debris that was beginning to be thrown out of the building as the bottom fifteen floors began to  
buckle under the weight of the upper fifteen. Sel pulled her arm out of the wall, dropping the last  
twenty feet unassisted, and immediately tore away from the cloud of wreckage that was trying its  
gravity-enhanced best to squish her like a bug.  
Sel just managed to skid around the corner of a five story building, sheltering herself as well  
as yanking Jenny behind the brick wall when the Sentinel hotel finally collapsed, sending concrete  
and steel flying all over the place. Almost thirty seconds elapsed before the remains of the building  
settled down to nothing more than a cloud of dust and papers, Sel stood up from where she had  
ducked and covered, wincing as chunks of concrete bounced off of her shoulders and back. *Oh, now  
I'm pissed. Nobody, but nobody tries to kill me, and even Satan wouldn't want to fuck with my  
family. Whomever decided to pull that stunt is going to die a horrible, painful death.*  
Sel looked to the side at Jenny, who was looking totally shocked, then heard a rumbling purr  
from her other side. Sel turned and looked down at the beaming face of Sebena, who was still sitting  
astride the big panther. Sebena hopped off the panther, hugged him, and dashed over to Sel, latching  
onto her legs with an iron-like grip. Sel slowly knelt, feeling her joints crack as she shifted position.  
"Hey, it's okay. We're safe."  
Sebena didn't let go, and Sel gently pried her daughter's hands free from around her waist.  
"Look. I really don't want to do this, but as far as I'm concerned, all the craziness in this city has  
gone on for way too long. I'm going to end this, then I'm definitely going to retire. How'd you like  
to see me at home after going to school, instead of wondering where I've gone off to?"  
Sebena looked up into Sel's eyes, tears streaming down her face as she tried to smile.  
"Promise?"  
Sel smiled. "Cross my heart. Now, let's get to the hospital, so we can be given clean bills of  
health before I find the person who did this and turn him into a squishee."  
Sebena smiled, then heard the sirens of the police cars, ambulances, and fire engines  
converging on the fallen building. The two slowly walked out to the street, where they were almost  
immediately surrounded by the rest of the team, most of whom were nursing bumps, scrapes and  
bruises from the building's collapse.  
The entire group headed towards the hospital, with the exception of Sel, Jenny, and Tsier,  
who stayed behind to try and help with the rescue operation. Hidden in the shadows, Six looked at  
Sel, looked at Data 7, and let a small smile creep across her face. "Penny for your thoughts brother?"   
Data 7 looked up at his older sister, then growled deep in his throat, sounding more like an  
engine of destruction than a loving person trapped in a panther's body. Six knelt and hugged him.  
"Yeah, I thought the same. Jose is going to die."  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 11:07 PM   
  
Dr. Zack had just put away his research notes for the day, and was leaning back in his  
favourite armchair. After filling his pipe, he turned on the TV so he could find out about the local  
news, which was unique, to say the least.  
The first article, which was about the spectacular collapse of the Sentinel Hotel less than two  
hours ago, nearly caused him to bite his pipe-stem in half. The reporter, obviously some rookie, was  
crowding one of the rescue workers, who could easily be distinguished by the pale hair that ran down  
her back in a dusty stream. The reporter, obviously trying to figure out the body count, kept on  
pestering the person, who finally turned around, pulled a gun from somewhere, and threatened to add  
him to the body count if he didn't shut up and help in trying to rescue the ones who were still  
trapped.  
Dr. Zack chuckled slightly as Sel's abrasive personality shone through, even as the extremely  
cowed reporter said something, put down the microphone, and started clearing rubble. Dr. Zack's  
response was to turn off the TV, lean back in his chair, and think for a few seconds.  
Instead of getting the mental answer he wanted however, all he got was a flurry of thoughts,  
mainly dealing over whether Mel would survive the coming conflagration, and how all the good  
sustenance-based beings would get enough to survive, but that was all overtaken by one overriding  
statement. *Jose is going to die.*  
  
Jose's Mansion, 11:50 PM   
  
Jose had just finished watching the news, including an amateur video of the tower collapsing,  
when he realized that at least three members of that accursed team were still alive. "Dammit! That  
woman has more lives than a cat, and is tougher to kill than a cockroach! What does it take to kill  
her? Hell, even CyberSix is easier to injure, and this one's going on like the energizer bunny!"  
Jose fumed for a few more minutes, then smiled slightly. He turned towards the last two AFIs  
that were still active, and he pointed at the TV screen, which was showing a paused image of the  
woman. "You two!" He waited for the AFI's processors to pick up on his motion and the fact that  
he had addressed them, then continued. "You see that woman on the TV? The one with white hair?  
I want her dead, and you two are going to kill her. She's probably going to be at this address, so go  
there and wait for her. When you see her, rip her to pieces."  
The two AFIs stood for a few seconds, scanning the slightly grainy image on the TV, then  
looked at the address Jose had hastily scribbled onto a piece of paper. They nodded at the same time,  
then turned and clomped their way out of the mansion, pausing only to get some weapons.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital, 3:20 AM   
  
Reba had been run ragged with the sudden influx of injured and almost-dead people from the  
collapse of the Hotel, and she was ready to collapse when Sel walked in, carrying a young boy with  
half his face ripped away, most likely from a chunk of masonry. Sel carefully placed the boy on a  
waiting stretcher, then yelled at two interns who were slouching against the wall.  
The interns immediately set into motion, getting the boy into one of the examination rooms  
and trying to stanch the blood flow. Reba moved slowly towards Sel, who had slouched against the  
wall to try and regain her breath. "Damn that gridlock sucks. That's the eighth person I've literally  
ferried here because of half the population rubbernecking at the debris field. They could at least help  
instead of standing there hawking cheap trinkets. So, going home Doc?"  
Reba nodded, looking at her reflection in the chrome bumper of a nearby ambulance, then  
grimacing. "Well, because I look like a true zombie, instead of the Halloween variety, I do think I'd  
better crash sometime soon."  
Sel smiled slightly, absently brushing at the blood staining her armour's right side.  
"Considering that I called Dr. Zack's a little while ago to let my daughter sleep there, I don't think  
the doc'd mind too much if you guested there as well. Care to join her?"  
Reba looked tempted, but smiled and shook her head. "What about you? I don't think Dr.  
Zack would want to have three ladies in his house."  
Sel chuckled, then pushed herself off of the wall. "He wouldn't mind two people that appear  
to be under the age of ten, so long as they stay out of the basement. However, considering that he  
probably thinks that I'm either insane or just pure nastiness, he'd most likely object to me hanging  
around."  
Reba smiled slightly, as Sel seemed to be perfectly sane, if a bit bloody from her trying to  
save several seriously wounded people. "Well, I wouldn't say you're insane, a serial killer, or just  
nasty. Personally, I think you're just like any one of us: fighting for survival in an unforgiving and  
cruel world. You just have the advantage of being stronger, tougher, faster, and having bigger guns.  
Look, I'm pretty tired, so I'll be heading off now. If you ever want to shoot the shit with me  
sometime though, here's my cell number."  
Reba handed over a business card, which Sel took, placing it in one of several pockets that  
seemed to pop up whenever they were needed. Then, as Reba watched, Sel gathered herself, slowing  
down her breathing as her armour recovered her face and arms. When the armour finished rippling  
into shape, Sel crouched to Reba's height, reached out and ruffled the growth-retarded doctor's hair,  
and jumped to the rooftop.  
Reba sighed, shaking her head to let her hair fall back into its normal position. Due to her  
enhanced hearing however, she heard a muttered 'enough is enough' before a dull thump echoed up  
from the rooftop. "Have a good night, and try to be careful." She then shrugged into her custom-  
tailored trenchcoat and started walking to her apartment, careful only to mutter "Jose's going to die"  
and not burst out laughing.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital; Psychiatric Ward, 4:10 AM   
  
Mikae woke up, but didn't open her eyes. Breathing deeply, she slowly flexed her arms,  
feeling how much give the restraints had before they started creaking. She opened her eyes slowly,  
letting them adjust to the darkness of the room, then yanked her right arm up and forwards, snapping  
the restraint without too much effort. Just as the leather snapped, a small red light blinked on,  
activating a silent alarm that locked down the entire ward. All that could be heard in the otherwise  
silent ward was the dull clicking of the locks and several echoing booms when the thick metal doors  
slammed shut, barricading the ward from the rest of the hospital.  
Mikae didn't react to the echoes reverberating through the ward, as she was busy removing  
the restraints from her left hand and feet. She then stood up, and ignoring the fact that she was  
wearing only one of the hospital gowns with a pair of ties in the back, she walked over to the door  
leading to the hallway and simply kicked it off its hinges. Then the loud alarms totally went spare.  
Just about everything that could have made noise was seemingly doing so, and at such a decibel  
count as to totally disable the average person in just under thirty seconds.  
Mikae, however, is most definitely not normal, and that didn't even account for the chemical  
injection that had rewired her brain into a neurological time bomb. She just ignored the noise, despite  
the fact that it could best be described as torture of the worst order, and simply walked down the  
hallway, pulling doors off of their hinges as she passed them. Most if the other inmates were too  
tranquillized, incapacitated by the noise, or too afraid of her to leave their rooms though.  
Mikae continued on her destructive rampage, at least until she found a pair of jeans that she  
put on without too much trouble, even though the pants were obviously several sizes too large. When  
she had deemed herself clothed, she then walked to the nearest of the massive steel doors that had  
locked down the ward, and started hammering on the door, pounding several dents into the foot-thick  
steel plates. Eventually, one of the thick doors had warped enough to shift off of its track, and Mikae  
soon created enough space to slip through by shoving and punching the heavy metal until the door  
finally slipped open.  
Less than five minutes later, Mikae had totally disappeared, leaving only the destroyed doors,  
a small puddle of blood where she had been hammering on the steel door, and the alarms still  
hooting at high speed. 


	21. Pawns on a Board'

Outside Dr. Zack's House, 5:17 AM   
  
The two AFIs had managed to conceal themselves in the park, even taking enough initiative  
to stay hidden under the trees there, and away from the motion sensors that dotted the building's  
eight-foot high fence. One of the AFIs was prepared for anything coming in from above, having a  
rather large gun that looked like the love child of a cannon and a harpoon. The other held a fifty  
calibre machine gun in each meaty fist.  
Just as the sky began to lighten, producing a false dawn, the first AFI raised the harpoon  
cannon, tracking a small form that vaulted neatly onto the wall, then almost immediately leaped over  
to the visible balcony on the two-story house. The form stayed there for several seconds, seemingly  
waiting for something, but didn't get a chance to enter the building. The cannon fired with a loud  
'Ka-Whoomp', launching the harpoon at a speed comparable to that of a small sports car at  
maximum speed.  
The figure turned enough to avoid a direct hit, but the harpoon still slapped into its arm with  
enough force to punch right through, revealing several of the barbs sticking out of the back of the  
person's arm. The AFI then grabbed the chain linking the harpoon to the cannon, and, setting its feet  
firmly against the ground, it heaved. The person the harpoon was sticking into was literally launched  
into the air, ending up with a dull thump against the inside of the wall. The AFI yanked again, and  
the form was slowly edged up and over the wall, landing on the sidewalk with a dull thump and a  
muffled scream.  
Just as the AFI was about to produce a third yank, which would have brought the person into  
squeezing distance, a dull snapping sound was heard and the chain was sent flying back into the  
AFI's face. Ignoring the fact that its face had just been opened up almost as smoothly as with a  
scalpel, the AFI caught the machine gun its 'sibling' threw it, fed the gun a belt of ammo, and  
immediately opened fire. The person just huddled on the ground, absorbing incredible amounts of  
punishment as both streams of fire hosed across its midriff, knocking the person back against the  
wall.  
Instead of just sitting there, the person was slowly pushing the metal spike out through the  
back of its arm, seemingly ignoring the bullets that continued to rake across its exposed flank.  
Finally, after almost fifteen seconds of sustained fire, the form wavered, dropped to both knees, and  
screamed again, only this time in anger, then suddenly burst into action. It scooped up the bloody  
spike from where the chunk of metal had finally fallen, and in a fairly creditable underhand toss, it  
lobbed the spike straight for the face of the AFI who had already had the chain whiplash it. The AFI  
easily dodged the spike, but it was forced to let up on its unrelenting stream of bullets and flame  
when the gun drifted to the side.  
The form was up and moving, but it wasn't fleeing as the AFIs expected. Instead, it was  
advancing straight into the hail of fire still being directed at its chest, with almost all of the bullets  
slamming right into the person's chest. Finally, just when the first AFI adjusted its aim and knocked  
the person's feet out from underneath it, a black form appeared from the inside of the house, looking  
more like the moving shadow of a person instead of a person.  
The first AFI, instead of hosing the prone form that it had previously been shooting at turned  
and simply sprayed bullets at the form leaving the house, not really caring about collateral damage.  
By now, both guns were red-hot, and steam was billowing from the exhaust vents in the coolant lines  
with each bullet fired. The shadow moved, shifted, and raised a small pistol, which it then fired five  
times in quick succession. The result was messy, grossly blown out of proportion, and splattered  
sustenance-laced blood all over the road as all five shots hit the AFI's chest. Each shot flared into  
a bright cerulean glare, which literally ripped fist-sized chunks from the AFI's torso, revealing metal  
plates and bone underneath. In response, the larger creation simply shrugged, and continued to empty  
the three linked belts of ammunition from the machine gun at its antagonist.  
The shadow had moved again though, getting closer at a steady speed, and continued to fire  
the pistol at the wounded AFI, but the beleaguered cyborg had ducked back behind some trees, which  
were subsequently shattered by a flurry of explosive flares of energy. The uninjured AFI continued  
to hammer away at their primary objective, but both were wondering if they hadn't just been ordered  
to their deaths.  
Just as the shadow-like form finally moved into the light revealing a black suit and a ski  
mask, the second AFI's gun finally jammed, mainly because the barrel had warped into a form of  
abstract art due to the immense amounts of heat from the near-constant firing for the last two  
minutes. Both AFIs looked at each other, ignoring the dust, flying brass casings, and smoke floating  
about, and started to retreat into the park.  
The person who had absorbed most of the bullets paused for a second, then pulled a massive  
rifle from over its left shoulder and aimed carefully at the AFI who still had a working machine gun.  
The gauss rifle is a unique piece of machinery, for, as it is fired, there is absolutely no muzzle flash.  
Then the spike, accelerated to Mach 12, flash-heats into a bolt of plasma producing a streak of bright  
white light that acts like a strobe for almost five hundred yards in every direction. Less than a second  
later, a thunderclap created by the blast wave of compressed air blew all the grass flat ninety feet in  
front of the gun.  
The first gauss slug from the gun, visible as a streak of white light trailed by close to ten  
billion sparks, just barely missed the AFI, streaking past its head, and smashing what appeared to  
be a several-hundred year old tree flat. The second shot, which followed the first almost exactly,  
ended up smashing right into the AFI's chest, just below the upper edge of the breastbone. The  
impact alone staggered the AFI, distracting the immense being, but the burst of plasma also ripped  
away its skin, revealing the articulated metal plates that acted as sub-dermal armour.  
The other AFI was not faring any better. The explosions caused by the pistol's ammunition  
were easily punching through the internal armour that guarded its internals and brain, but what  
finally dropped it was a three-round burst from the pistol, of which the explosions rearranged the  
alignment of the plates in the AFI's exceptionally thick skull. It stood there for a few seconds,  
swaying slightly, then collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut when its body realized 'Hey!  
You're dead!'.  
The pistol ceased to bark out its statements, but even when it was speaking, it was near-  
constantly drowned out completely by the primal, supersonic anger of the gauss rifle's mauling of  
the AFI that was still trying to retreat. Much of the skin on its chest had been ripped off, and most  
of the armour plating underneath was smoking and pitted from the constant pounding that it was  
taking. The AFI tried to raise its gun, but was battered to its knees by another massive volley from  
the rifle.  
Almost all of the slugs-turned plasma bolts stitched a line of destruction across the AFI's  
chest, hammering through the armour and ripping into the soft and vital internal organs that were  
guarded by the metal ribs underneath the plating. The AFI stopped moving for a second, then was  
knocked flat by a stream of fire from the rifle, ending only when the magazine of spikes  
automatically ejected from the stock of the gun.  
The smoking remains of the AFI finally stopped twitching as the person rammed another  
magazine home in the stock of the gun, swivelling to the side to acquire the other AFI in her sights.  
Upon seeing it was dead, with its brains dribbling out of its shattered head, the person slowly raised  
the gun towards the sky and safed it by disengaging the coils in the barrel. All around the small field  
of battle, it looked like the devil's own janitor had cleaned up. The air was clear, but several houses  
had lost windows, and of the surviving trees, several had burning branches from near-misses from  
the gauss slugs. Also, many of the empty bullet casings from the (now decidedly shattered and  
useless) machine guns had been forcibly embedded into the tree trunks, creating a tracery of brass  
veins wrapped around the tough wood.  
The injured person sighed slightly, letting the gun drop to the gravel pathway beside her.  
"Well, that's one reception I don't want to deal with again. At least I was wearing my dancing  
clothes." The shadowy person who had hammered the other AFI into bloody scrap muttered  
something under his breath, and his black clothes changed to an off-white shade, making the person  
look like he was encased in thermal underwear, gloves, and a ski mask. He then pulled off the gloves  
and ski mask, and the mustachioed face of Dr. Zack glared down at the still-twitching corpse he had  
emptied his pistol into.  
"Hrrrmph. Even uglier in one piece than when scattered over three autopsy tables. Still,  
they're tough as nails, nasty as all hell, and they knew how to retreat. How'd you manage to kill that  
one over there with only one magazine? The other one that I saw had taken about five hundred shots  
before being considered deceased."  
The woman just shook her head, then let her armour ripple away from her face and hands.  
However, her right arm, still with the hole that had messily punched through her upper arm, was  
almost useless now that the rush of energy had passed by, and her left hand was covering a ragged  
tear in the armour just above the ribline. "Because four pissed off people decided to try and liquify  
the damn thing before you got your claws into it. Care to get a couple of bandages and an asprin the  
size of Lake Michigan before I keel over? This hole in my arm will definitely not do much for my  
health."  
Sel's voice carried quite clearly to Dr. Zack, who walked over to her and examined the still-  
bleeding puncture. "Looks nasty. What do you need to help heal?"  
"Feels worse. But all I need is some bandages, a few hours to rest, and a painkiller. Still, the  
gashes in my side'll be more irritating after my arm heals. Hell, even my armour can be battered  
down to a thin shell in some areas. By the way, you could've earned a gold from that."  
Dr. Zack smiled slightly, then helped Sel into a standing position. "Well, I'll get you into my  
place, then get some bandages and a friend to help you out."  
Sel smiled as she let Dr. Zack carefully pull her to her feet. "I'm grateful for the hospitality,  
but I have things to plan, stunted sadists to kill, and a daughter to take care of. Speaking of such, is  
she still asleep, and could she stay here for a day or two?" Sel smiled again, letting her real eye speak  
volumes about how much something like that meant to her.  
Dr. Zack hemmed and hawed for a few moments as the two managed to stagger their ways  
into his house. The first thing he did as Sel faded into unconsciousness was to grab the first aid kit  
he had hanging on a strap behind the closet door. He then set to work in bandaging her arm and side.  
  
Somewhere in Northern Meridiana, 6:03 AM   
  
"Heeerrreee kitty, kitty, kitty. Come on, I won't hurt you..." The light, wheedling voice  
continued talking, ignoring the angry hiss of the alley cat that tried to get out of the sheer cul-de-sac  
that it was trapped in. The voice continued, but was suddenly drowned out by the angry echoing  
clashing of several trash cans, followed up by several very angry yowls, which were brutally silenced  
by a dull cracking noise.  
"Niiice kitty. You can stay with me. I think I'll call you Percy." The voice slowly faded away,  
still talking to itself and its new counterpart, heading slowly north towards the suburbs.  
  
Jose's Mansion, 7:20 AM   
  
Jose had just awakened quite peacefully, and was looking out of one of the massive windows  
towards the boundary of the forest between his mansion and Meridiana. He still managed to avoid  
having to head towards the devastated west wing, where Helmut had lived for a while, but was  
pleased to know that the repairs were proceeding apace for the damaged rooms.  
"Now, if only I could find that new commander of that damn team and turn her into my new  
appetizer. Well, It will only take some patience. After all, not even Cybersix can deal with two AFIs,  
and that woman must be weaker than father's 'failure'."  
Jose stopped speaking to himself as his keen eyes picked out something pale moving through  
the forest, then he smiled. There, at the boundary of the trees, a young girl walked towards the  
mansion, holding what looked like a mangy cat. However, what caught Jose's eyes wasn't the near-  
nakedness of the girl, who was wearing only a pair of jeans and a ripped-up hospital blouse, but the  
bright red eyes that suddenly snapped upwards and glared at him.  
Just as he began to move away from the unsettling glare, the girl knelt on one knee, still  
looking at Jose, and spread her arms. "I am yours to command, Von Reichter."  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 8:30 AM   
  
Sel's eyes snapped open like they were spring-loaded, and she instantly focussed on  
everything in the room around her. The first thing she noticed was that she was still wearing her  
armour, and the wounds in her arm and side were quite neatly bandaged up. *Well, remind me to  
thank Dr. Zack. It looks like the honorific in front of his name is at least partially earned.*  
She slowly sat up, letting her armour set itself to its barely 'live' form, and continued to study  
the room she was in. The room was barely twice as large as the bed she was sitting in, but a set of  
clothes were sitting on a chair, seemingly waiting for her to wear something more comfortable. Sel  
smiled at the sentiment, and let her armour shut down totally.  
Five minutes later, she left the room, looking at herself in a small mirror that was set into part  
of the wall. She nodded to herself, then caught the tiny red light hidden in the right corner of the  
mirror. Grinning, she flipped off an instantly-recognisable gesture to the hidden camera, and walked  
down to the study she had seen the last time she had talked to Dr. Zack, where she met up with her  
host, as well as Sebena.  
Sebena's reaction was the more surprising of the two, as she just looked at her mother for a  
few seconds, smiled, and stuck her tongue out. "Sebena! Why would you do that to your mother?"  
Sel grinned and shook her head. "I'm guessing she's just annoyed because she missed the  
lightshow. Well, you're going to miss the next one as well, because I like you alive instead of dead."  
Sel finished addressing her daughter, then turned to her host.  
Dr. Zack stood up, and shook Sel's hand, but stopped when she winced as she accidentally  
flexed her bad arm. "Ouch. Still, I'm surprised to see you here. After all, don't you have a day job?"  
Dr. Zack grinned, letting his walrus moustache bristle outwards. "Well, I have a good half-  
hour to make the twenty-minute walk to the school. Besides, I needed to wait to make sure that your  
charming daughter didn't break anything."  
"I hope she didn't. Sometimes she's more destructive than a tornado. I wish that she could  
have a playmate her age, but, with all the travelling I do, I just haven't had enough time to settle  
down and live a normal life with my family."  
Dr. Zack frowned, but let his thoughts go unsaid. Sebena cut in with a smile and a sharp poke  
to her mother's leg. "Mom, I really don't care about where we live, so long as you're alive. Why  
don't you go and beat up the bad guys so we can have some fun?"  
The response was a shared look between the two adults, followed by a set of smiles. "Out of  
the mouths of babes, huh? Just wondering doc, but could I use your phone for a bit? I have to call  
my second, so she can take care of the bean while I finish with some business. Also, if you have any  
infiltrators in the area, I'd recommend you pull them out before the fireworks start going off. This  
fight's going to make Antietam look like a rainy picnic."  
The look in Sel's eyes told Dr. Zack that she wouldn't brook any arguments, so he just  
nodded, then turned to the small box she had given him less than two days ago. "Take the pistol you  
gave me as backup to that rifle you have. It might just save your butt." Sel nodded, then walked into  
the kitchenette so she could make the calls she wanted.  
  
Outskirts of Meridiana, 10:20 AM   
  
The heavy APC's brakes squealed for a second as the vehicle slewed to a stop at the entrance  
to the logging road that was one of the three documented paths towards the mansion that was the  
primary source of the 4G activity in the city. Inside, three people were sitting, and they were looking  
at each other, mentally hashing out their assigned roles in the upcoming battle. Sel was sitting in the  
driver's seat of the APC, with Tsier sitting beside her, systematically arming every weapon system  
the APC had.  
Behind her, Bellinger was checking all the weapons the three people had, and he was loading  
the three gauss rifles with specialized ammunition that not only went through just about anything  
solid, but also blew up into a spray of caustic gases on impact. The secondary weapons were the  
standardized gauss pistols, also loaded with the special ammunition, and Bellinger had taken upon  
himself to bring along one of the two surviving Man-Portable PPCs for heavy support.  
"Well, all we have to do is wait until the infiltrator sends us a flare which tells us he's in the  
free and clear, then we get to move in and rip the place to hell." Sel then leaned back in her seat,  
absently turning off the engine before closing her eyes and listening to the gentle clicks and beeps  
as the weapons all checked out.  
Tsier looked up several minutes later, and grinned. "There's the flare, boss. Ready to head  
in?"  
"Yep. Just give me five minutes to wake up and we'll be off. Bellinger, got the guns ready?"  
Bellinger grinned. "Yeah. We're going to blow up the east wing this time? We worked over  
the west side pretty good last time. I only wish the others were here."  
Sel smiled as she opened her eyes just enough to see the slowly falling flare. "Both sides and  
the middle. This is calling for a scorched-earth policy, and we get to go there, blast the place to tiny,  
bloody bits, and make sure that the only survivors are the microbes. Also, everyone else is busy  
keeping the peace back in the city, and the other three APCs are posted to the other exits to cut down  
any escapees."  
The two men chuckled, stopping only when Sel leaned forwards and started the big engine  
up, ready to drive into the forest. She grinned, then fired off one of her infamous quips. "Hey,  
Kemosabe. Bite me." 


	22. Aria of Pain

Outside Jose's Mansion, 11:20 AM   
  
The APC was almost invisible in the deep shadows underneath the trees, and the three people  
inside it were grinning and ready to wreak havoc. "So, where do you want us to empty the mortar  
here?"  
Bellinger was wrestling with the four foot long tube, which would soon be used to launch  
several dozen high-explosive toys towards the mansion that was less than a kilometre away. Tsier  
and Sel were just sitting back and smiling. Sel spoke first. "Screw that hunk of junk. We won't be  
using it."  
Bellinger's face fell, then he smiled. "Well, I can still use it to open doors once we're inside."  
"We're not going inside. We are going to blast that place flat, then we're going in there to  
put a bunch of bullets into the survivors. Also, stop calling me Esebert Bathory behind my back. I  
don't bathe in the blood of virgins, despite the rumours going about back at home base."  
Bellinger shrugged. "Well, this thing's designed to knock things flat, so I don't know why  
we can't use it."  
Tsier chuckled in his scratchy voice, then looked at Sel. "Well, at least we aren't calling your  
gun Vlad. So, shall we get this show on the road, or are we waiting until it's noon?"  
Sel shook her head, than activated some of her armour's offensive abilities, letting the jagged  
spike neatly punch a hole through the bulletproof glass in the windshield. "If I had to be stuck in this  
crate with you two for more than half an hour, you'd both be dead. Don't worry. In five minutes  
we're going to be moving in. Tsier, you might want to see if the autocannon isn't jammed. I really  
don't see the need for you to let your ass grow roots into the seat while I'm driving."  
Tsier responded with an unmistakable gesture, then stood up and headed into the back of the  
twenty-ton vehicle, where the ammunition and autoloaders for the thirty-millimetre rotary cannon   
resided in what could best be called a titanium bathtub. Sel responded to the gesture by starting the  
engine, then lurching the heavy vehicle forward in a series of stop-and-start jerks that ate almost a  
hundred yards before she stopped, laughing as she listened to the vehement volley of curses from  
both men.  
"Yeah, sit down and shut up. Now, here's what we're going to do. I'll be driving this thing  
around the front of the place, hammering everything that even thinks of moving with the autocannon  
and machine guns. You two are going to be on the destruction crews. Tsier, you're going to use the  
ten satchel charges in the back there to wire most of that place to pop like a zit. Bellinger, you're  
going to be backup with the PPC, as well as the mortar if we need some packages of pain sent to the  
roof. Don't forget. Our objective is to make sure nothing, and I mean nothing escapes. Now, let's  
go in there and scalp some greenies for boots."  
Sel downshifted the APC, then simply created her own pathway through the jungle,  
festooning the heavy vehicle with low-hanging creeper vines and green stains from plants being  
crushed under the foot-wide, knobby tires. In under three minutes, the APC broke out into the  
clearing in front of the mansion, and instantly came under fire. Six Fixed Ideas, all armed with rocket  
launchers, turned as one and started shooting at the APC, which had slammed into a seventh Idea,  
breaking both of the creature's legs at mid-thigh. The six rockets all missed, not for a lack of trying  
though.  
While half of the rocket launchers were being reloaded, the APC's main guns opened up,  
spraying a hail of lead and steel death into a cloud in front of it, almost instantly shredding three of  
the Ideas that had shot at the vehicle. Tsier and Bellinger slammed open the large door on the right  
side of the vehicle, piling out of the APC with their guns as Sel made the unwieldy vehicle swivel  
into a bootlegger's turn, slamming the door shut and blasting to bloody hunks the three Ideas that  
were still standing.  
The heavy steel tires mulched the lawn as well as the seventh Idea as Sel forced the APC to  
skid towards the already-battered west wing of the house while laying down a screen of fire. Most  
of the massive volley smashed through the outer walls of the house, leaving a ragged row of craters  
in the heavy masonry, but several shells also hammered into and through a group of technos who had  
tried to help defend the mansion, leaving their only evidence of existence as a smear of greenish  
blood on the wall, some scraps of clothing, and several shattered guns.  
As the APC was busy laying down the curtain of fire, Tsier was already at the corner of the  
east wing, wiring several shaped charges to the cornice of the building before moving to the next  
area, roughly halfway down the wing's side, and right underneath a fairly large window. Bellinger,  
at the same time, was picking off the rooftop snipers with immensely accurate fire from his mortar,  
occasionally followed up by a blast of man-made lightning which shattered the cornices the surviving  
technos were hiding behind.  
Sel had her hands busy at the same time, as another squad of Ideas had appeared from a side  
door, most of which managed to shoot at her before she tried to mow them down into bloody pulp.  
Two Ideas laced the front of the APC with machine gun bullets, scarring and pitting the thick armour  
with the impacts, but what really worried Sel was the other five, who were all firing HEAT rockets  
at her. Several desperate turns, including one where only the left tires were touching the ground kept  
the vehicle out of the direct blasts, but the shrapnel battered and ripped at the plates covering the  
right flank.  
Cursing under her breath, Sel flipped open a radio channel, while one-arming her own gauss  
rifle's barrel through the hole she had made in the windshield. Squeezing the trigger she sent six  
slugs on a trip towards the two gunners that were making bullets whine and spang off of the angled  
armour, so she mentally sighed in relief when both were cut in half by the explosive force of impact.  
Around their rapidly disappearing corpses, small clouds of highly corrosive acid settled, burning into  
the ground.  
The five survivors of the squad simply responded by opening fire, and a lucky shot, hitting  
right in the middle of Sel's desperate turn to avoid the explosives, flipped the APC onto its side.  
Inside the vehicle, Sel shook off the feeling of being tossed around like a pea in a tin can, and  
unbelted herself from the driver's seat when she smelled smoke and spilled fuel. *Oh shit. Time to  
get out of Dodge*  
Sel quickly climbed up to the passenger's door, and, ignoring the handle, she just hauled off  
and knocked the door straight up, nearly ripping it off of its hinges. Her gauss rifle and pistol  
remained on her, and the long knife she wore in her right boot was still there, so she grabbed the  
damaged door, exerted her already-considerable strength, and ripped the door free. Looking at the  
Ideas, which had clustered together, she flung the heavy steel door at them like a razor-edged frisbee,  
cutting off the heads of two of them, and smacking another hard enough to knock it down.  
Sel then leapt off of the smoking hulk, kicking away from the dented side panels as she heard  
the dull whoosh of the diesel fuel igniting. A clumsy shoulder roll onto the lawn, hi-lit by the first  
of three fuel tanks in the APC exploding, which set off the remaining ammunition. The APC literally  
vaporized in a spectacular lightshow of fire, metal and death, knocking the two standing Ideas to the  
ground with little chunks of metal covering every square inch of their chests. More, larger chunks  
of metal had embedded themselves in the walls of the mansion, and Sel had to duck to the side in  
order to avoid being squished by the shattered turret which had held the autocannon.  
*There's a reason why I didn't expect to win so easily. Still, I think I'd better help out Tsier.  
By now he should be halfway through the back.* Sel stood up from where she had rolled, pulling  
her gauss pistol to messily amputate the heads from the three Ideas that were still alive. She ran  
towards the back of the house, easily dodging the storms of rifle bullets that carved large divots out  
of the lawn, and taking slightly more time to remove from the scene everything with a rocket  
launcher before they could shoot at her. Just as she rounded the corner to look at the back of the  
house, three things happened at once. First, Sel took a bullet in the right shoulder, making her arm  
virtually useless as the massive wound in her biceps reopened, letting her bleed. Second, Tsier just  
finished rigging the sixth charge and turned towards her, aiming his pistol at her face, and third, the  
window just above Tsier shattered as something moving very fast, wearing what appeared to be the  
tatters of a straitjacket and jeans leapt through the glass.  
Sel reacted first, aiming and firing a volley of five shots at the figure, but every shot missed  
by only a small margin. "Fuck! What the hell was that? Tsier, get moving and finish rigging this  
place! I'll keep cover back here so nothing can get out." Tsier nodded, and continued rigging the  
explosives, while Sel proceeded to swiftly amputate any gun-wielding limbs she could see.  
Less than two minutes later, a new record, Sel heard Tsier yell "Fire in the hole!" and, instead  
of ducking and covering, she simply took two steps backwards and slid down the curved wall of a  
large, but empty, swimming pool. Less than two seconds later, in a concerted array of destruction,  
every explosive charge from the satchel charges blew up simultaneously.  
The explosives were well-designed, focussing their blasts inwards and down, and the effects  
each blast had was multiplied by the close proximity to each other and the fact that the walls were  
poorly maintained. The entire mansion shuddered for a second or two after the explosions and clouds  
of dust cleared up, then telescoped into the ground with a dull, crackling roar. Much of the mansion's  
population was visible, either in small pieces that flared into vapour as Sel climbed out of the now-  
ruined pool, or trapped under the heavy wooden beams that had kept the roof from falling on their  
heads in the first place.  
Sel smiled, raised her rifle with her left hand, and braced herself. The volley of fire she  
poured out smashed the ruins of the West wing flat, but she just walked forwards, finger clamped  
on the trigger as she simply smashed everything in the wing to useless dust. Bellinger was doing the  
same to the East wing, and they only paused to reload their guns when necessary. After almost ten  
minutes, Sel raised her hand to listen for any cries for help, but heard nothing.  
"Okay, We're done. Let's get back to the city. I'll be glad to put this damn jungle behind us,  
and I'll be even happier when the jungle overgrows this entire place." Just then, Sel heard something.  
It sounded like a little boy screaming for help, but she had never heard such an annoying voice in her  
life. Pausing, she motioned the two men to go ahead, then she turned back to the ruins. Sel moved  
carefully over the shattered remains of the building, listening after each step as the hysterical voice  
redoubled its strength., pinpointing what was going to be the last kill of the day.  
"Helllppp meee!!! Anybody! My home fell on me!" Sel grinned, then slammed her arm  
through the brittle crust of debris that made up the person's almost-tomb. She felt something coarse  
touch her fingertips, so she grabbed a handful and lifted.  
"Owwww!!! Let go of my hair you oversized, steroid-enhanced freak!" Sel just looked down  
at the boy's head she had pulled out of the hole in the ground, then produced a second yank, pulling  
the rest of him out as well. His amber-coloured glasses were askew, his hair was messed up, even  
without her hand holding onto much of it, and his clothes were ripped to hell and dirty. The boy  
looked up at Sel's masked face, smiled, and started speaking.  
"Good, you can help. We need to rebuild my base of operations here, and, considering that  
you're one of daddy's latest creations, you get to deal with all the grunt work while I apply the brain  
sweat." Sel just stared down at the boy, the one creature that had caused so much misery to the entire  
city. He had killed her best friend, seriously injured several members of her team, including herself,  
and had nearly killed her own daughter. At that moment, she didn't hear anything but the pounding  
of her blood rushing through her veins, and everything she could see was tinged red.  
Twenty minutes later, when her eyes had cleared up, she found herself sitting in the ruins,  
her knife in one hand, and the boy scattered over almost thirty square feet. Of course, he didn't even  
register as remotely human to her eyes, and she just stood up, cleaned her knife on some grass that  
had avoided much of the destruction that had plagued the rest of the area, collected her guns, and  
started walking towards the city.  
Just as she passed into the treeline, Bellinger and Tsier appeared from behind some trees  
where they had left their lunches, and looking extremely uncomfortable as Sel continued to walk  
towards the city. Behind her, the only motion was a crow, picking at something. Soon the crow found  
what it wanted, and flew off with the little white orb dangling from its beak.  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 4:20 PM   
  
"Well, this is where we part ways for a bit. Bellinger, Tsier, go off and drive Jenny nuts.  
She'll probably need some help rooting those little assholes out from under their rocks. I have to see  
whether my little munchkin has blown up the insides of Dr. Zack's place yet." Sel walked towards  
the front gate of the house, listening for anything untoward as her artificial eye shifted to the infrared  
spectrum. The world dimmed to a dull blue-green, with the exception on the window frames of the  
house, which remained deep blue.  
Sel slowly concentrated on the house, letting the eye's sighting laser do much of the work  
for her as it slowly altered the scan to cut through the layers of the house. Soon, Sel's eye was  
virtually looking through the entire house, searching for heat sources. Just as she was about to walk  
in there anyhow, her eye picked up Sebena's form, lying in a bed with a massive, indistinct form  
lying sprawled out on the floor. Sel let her eye refocus back to visible light, then walked up to the  
door, leaned against the frame, and waited.  
Twenty minutes later, Sel smiled as she watched Dr. Zack pause as he was walking up his  
path towards his front door. She knew she would look like something out of a bad horror movie, as   
her arms and chest were covered in blood, and she also looked like someone had put her through the  
wringer for two days straight, as she had gone without much sleep, much less a decent visit to a  
shower or bathtub. Her hair was ratty and tangled, her eyes had sunk into her face, leaving dark rings,  
and her skin was even paler than before.  
"Well, it looks like the heroine of the city has returned. Most of us heard the blasts, but we're  
still curious. So, what's left?"  
"Dust, more dust, a couple of eyeballs that I missed stepping on. Nothing really. So, how was  
your day?" Just before she heard Dr. Zack's response, she fainted. 


	23. Ruined Worlds

Jose's Ruins, 8:20 PM   
  
Helmut was scared out of his wits. Not only had he been buried for the last three days, but  
he was out of food and water. The food had been in the form of a few cans of peaches, which Helmut  
had spent much of his energy opening with his pocketknife, while the water had dripped steadily  
from a broken pipe that had saved him from being crushed when the mansion imploded.  
Above him, less than seven feet separated him from freedom, but those seven feet were an  
interlocked mass of girders, beams, and walls that had collapsed inwards. All Helmut could do was  
to scream for help. After one such bout of screams, he heard something moving above him. "Percy?  
Where are you? I'm lost without you."  
Helmut knew where the damn dead cat was. In fact, he had been using it as a footrest until  
some flies found the poor creature, turning it into a mass of maggoty meat and slime-covered fur.  
The smell alone would have made him quite ready to kill himself, but he had entertained the thought  
that maybe someone had escaped and was searching for him. It sounded like he was partly right.  
"Hey! Percy's here! If you can get us out, we'll be grateful!" Helmut started yelling, his voice  
hoarse and almost unrecognisable in the gloom. Above him, he saw the fading light be obscured for  
a few seconds as something knelt next to the holes, then more light flooded in as a massive chunk  
of metal-reinforced wood was ripped free from the surrounding materials.  
The person above Helmut yelled at something else up there, and both soon shredded the  
intervening materials between Helmut and freedom. Coughing and gasping, he clambered out of the  
hole, and looked at his two rescuers. One was the biggest Fixed Idea he had seen, with the exception  
of Tiny, who had been killed when the observatory had blown up. The other was a young girl, who  
he instantly recognised as Cyber X-1.  
X-1, instead of looking at him, decided to turn to the hole she had created, climb down, and   
retrieve the rotting remains of Percy, which she hugged to her stained and dirt-covered shirt as she  
climbed back to ground level. "There Percy. I have you, and I'll never let go. Not until you're dead  
and gone."  
Helmut forced away his instant reflex to gag, and looked at the Idea standing there, picking  
its nose. "Well, I think he's pretty far gone. Shouldn't we go somewhere else? If a jeep survived, we  
can get to the castle before anything else happens."  
X-1 ignored him, still rubbing the slime off of Percy's body, and occasionally shaking a  
maggot off of the cat's limbs. The Idea looked down at Helmut, shrugged, and turned to try and find  
a jeep that was still working.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital, 9:35 PM   
  
Sel screwed her eyes shut at the piercing glare from the orderly's light, which was just  
beginning to piss her off. "Look, I've been unconscious for the last three days, give or take an hour,  
and I really don't want to have to go through the same check-up for the sixth time. Now, will you  
just give up, answer my questions, and let me see my daughter?"  
The orderly, an older man who was literally built like an ox, smiled, shook his head, and  
gently tilted Sel's head so he could look into her ear with the light. Sel put up with it for a few more  
seconds, then angrily slapped the orderly's hand away. "Now, care to say anything?"  
The orderly grinned. "Sure. If you continue to be a bad girl, we'll go for a seventh check-up.  
Also, your daughter is currently interacting with Dr. Pearce, so there shouldn't be any problems with  
those two. Finally, your bills are being paid, so as soon as this check-up is done, you can walk to  
wherever you want. Hopefully, you might even stick around in the city for a while."  
Sel shrugged, rolling her eyes at the same time. "Fine, you win. Now, let's get this over  
with."  
Ten minutes later, she was in the elevator, heading towards the ground floor, and hopefully,  
a rendezvous with her daughter. The thick doors opened with the usual annoying 'ping', followed  
up by several muted conversations instantly stopping as most people wanted to see the strange person  
who had apparently blown up the stronghold that had terrorized the city for the last four years.  
Most of the people in the waiting room were reporters of some stripe or another, with about  
six different TV cameras recording everything as the reporters instantly swamped Sel. A barrage of  
questions was ignored, until one reporter literally shoved his microphone he was holding almost  
directly under Sel's nose. She didn't even bother to pause, but reached up, grabbed the poor man's  
hand, and squeezed, cracking several bones and dislocating three of his fingers.  
Sel guessed that most news shows would get some good ratings from the staccato series of  
pops followed up by the anguished scream of the reporter, but she just shrugged her way through the  
rest of the crowd until she finally managed to get to the registration/information desk. She looked  
at the nurse attending the desk, gestured to the man who was sobbing like he was eight years old and  
cradling his hand, and frowned.  
"I really don't like the press that much. Now, could you please tell me where Dr. Pearce's  
office is? I've had a long week, and want to spend the rest of the time in this charming city with my  
daughter." The nurse smiled slightly, mentally echoing Sel's sentiment about the reporters, who had  
the ability to get into just about any area, no matter how well secured, and screw over every  
safeguard to prevent opportunistic infections in the country.  
"Dr. Pearce's office? Just down the hall, take a right at child pediatrics, and her office is  
easily marked." Leaning closer, the nurse smiled again. "It's the one decorated by all the drawings.  
You can't miss it." Sel grinned, slid a bill across the top of the desk for the nurse to pick up, and  
went down towards the area the nurse had directed her to. Ten minutes later, she heard the laughter  
of children, with a perfectly identifiable voice in the midst of it.  
Sel paused only long enough to pull her favourite sunglasses out of a pocket, which she put  
on before letting the children see her. There were almost fifteen children in the room, varying in age  
from three to ten, and all were playing with different toys or talking to one person sitting on a chair.  
The conversations paused for a second or two when the children saw Sel, but two people instantly  
stood up.  
Sebena, seeing her mom standing up and looking fairly healthy, instantly tore over there,  
leaving a mini-vortex of flying crayons and papers behind her as she literally attached herself to Sel's  
legs, effectively immobilizing her mother. The second person took a bit more time walking over to  
Sel, who was busy trying to disentangle Sebena from her legs so she could smother the child with  
hugs.  
"So, didja like your stay in our fine hospital?" Dr. Pearce stopped about three feet away from  
Sel, and smiled.  
"I was unconscious until about an hour ago. Then again, I guess it wasn't too bad. So, mind  
if I swipe the bean from ya? After all, I think I'll be sticking around in this city for a longer time than  
I anticipated." Sel smiled again as Sebena hugged her tightly, then stood up, holding her daughter's  
hand. As the two turned to leave, Reba smiled to herself and pulled a cell-phone from one of her  
pockets. After hitting the speed-dial and waiting for a response, Reba smiled and said "She's going  
to stick around. I guess I owe you fifty Tony." The response was a muffled cheer.  
  
Near Dr. Zack's House, 10:22 PM   
  
Sel looked up at the neat house in front of her and smiled. She then looked at Jenny, who was  
carrying the now-sleeping Sebena. "So, what do you think? Should I buy it?"  
Jenny shrugged, letting Sebena settle down before replying. "Yeah. It's about big enough for  
three adults to live in comfortably, and you have a massive supply of cash from all the bounties  
you've raked in over the last six years. Besides, how many countries owe you favours? Fifty? One  
hundred?"  
"Almost one-fifty. Besides, most of those countries really needed their acts straightened out.  
Now, where in hell's the Real estate agent? I told him we'd be here at Ten-Twenty."  
Jenny smiled, letting the moonlight reflect off her teeth for a second. "You sure? Every once  
in a while, you confuse twenty with thirty. Ahh... Here he is."  
A car had pulled up as the two talked, and a small, skinny man climbed out. Sebena had just  
awakened and transferred herself to Sel's arms without too much assistance from Jenny as the man  
walked towards the three.  
He smiled when he got to the two women, and opened his briefcase for a moment. "Well,  
you're the young lady who wants to buy this place, correct?"  
Sel nodded, and he smiled again, a singularly ugly effect when she thought about it. "Good.  
All we need is your name on this deed, and the house is yours." He produced a pen from a pocket,  
and the deed he laid out on the hood of his car so Sel could easily scribble something if she wanted  
to. She just leaned forwards, placing herself between Jenny and the man.  
Jenny responded by sliding to the right a few feet, but the man had already pulled out a small,  
two-shot derringer from his sleeve and fired both bullets right after each other. Sel was knocked flat  
onto her back by the impact from at least one bullet, and Jenny simply rushed over, grabbed the man,  
and snapped his neck.  
The dead body flashed into a cloud of vapour, as Sel slowly sat up, gingerly prodding at the  
steaming hole in her shirt. The small .22 bullet fell out, flattened into a dull mass by its solid impact  
to one of her ribs. A small trickle of blood followed the bullet, but she didn't care. Instead, Sel was  
staring at the tiny ragged hole in Sebena's temple, just above her left eye.  
"No. Please god, not her. She still has her life. I'm the one who should have taken that bullet.  
She never did anything bad to anyone. Jenny! Call an ambulance! Now!" Sel sat on the ground,  
gently cradling the still form of her daughter, with tears streaming down her face, trying to get a  
response from her sweet little munchkin. 


	24. Rebuilding and Recovery

Undisclosed Location, 8:25 AM, Three Weeks Later   
  
"Well, she's finally resigned. Cites the death of a close friend and undue stresses in the  
workplace What should we say?" Vincent looked over the short message again, sighed, and rubbed  
his eyes.  
"All we need is someone to take her place and start training up our rookies. After all, she's  
been in her field for six years, and has a reputation of not stopping until everything is complete. She  
only backed out once, and that was because it would have killed or injured IBs."  
Vincent nodded, then looked at the board of directors. "So, we're agreed that she should be  
let go, no strings attached?" Everyone nodded. "Okay. I'll send her the message, and promote her  
second to overall command." He then left the large conference room, heading towards one of the  
elevators when he bumped into Dr. Sorbie.  
"Oh, hey Charlie. I didn't see you."  
Sorbie just smiled slightly. "That happens every once in a while. I have to say this Vince. I'm  
retiring."  
Vincent stood there for a few seconds, letting his jaw flap in the air-conditioned breeze, then  
shook off the shock. "Well, I for one will be sorry to see you go, but you're what? Over seventy  
now?"  
"About that. I have my family to take care of, and I haven't seen my grandson in almost a  
year. Besides, it's about time I let someone else do the paperwork. I haven't had a decent night's  
sleep in almost five years." Sorbie removed his glasses, cleaning them against his shirtfront for a few  
seconds, then shrugged.  
Vincent frowned for a few seconds, then shook Sorbie's hand. "Well, that's the second  
person who's officially retired from our company today. As of now you're five minutes behind Sel,  
who has officially retired from command of the teams as well as the company to boot."  
Sorbie smiled and started to walk away. "Well, I think that's the best thing she could have  
done. After all, even she would need time to recover and adjust to her current situation."  
"You're right. Come on, I'll buy you a coffee. Maybe we can have a good laugh over some  
of the crazy shit we've seen over the years." Vincent offered, and was instantly taken up on the offer.  
Ten minutes later, the two were sitting at a table at the cafeteria, trading horror stories from their  
respective professions.  
  
Meridiana General Hospital ICU, 10:26 AM   
  
Sel stood in front of the thick plexiglass window, mentally using every vulgar word she could  
to describe the type of being that would attack a harmless child. A little while ago, she had been  
given the final report on her daughter's chance of survival, and it was not conductive to a good  
mood.  
The report, signed by Dr. Pearce, was phrased simply, as if saying it straight up could  
somehow mitigate the extent of the damage. The bullet had failed to punch deeply into Sebena's  
brain, instead rattling down the right hemisphere. While it had rattled its way to the base of the  
brainstem, the bullet had literally wreaked havoc on its way, severing three blood vessels, carving  
a series of gouges through much of the sensory cortex until it ricocheted from the top of her skull  
and shredded the right half of the occipital lobe.  
The damage was only exacerbated by the damage to the blood vessels, which caused a series  
of massive strokes which were only ended by invasive surgery to repair the ruptures with artificial  
microtubules. Overall, the prognosis was less than a one-in four chance of Sebena surviving the  
operation alone, and she was still listed in critical condition after three weeks. The worst part was  
that she was still unconscious, so the doctors couldn't tell if there was any non-visual damage.  
After almost three hours, Sel still hadn't moved from her vigil, and there was no change on  
any of the monitors. However, just as she was forced to dodge an organ cart making an emergency  
delivery to the nearby operating theatre, several of the monitors started beeping, telling everyone in  
the ICU that there was a massive change in Sebena's current state.  
Sel's head snapped upwards at the first beep, just in time to see her daughter's eyes open, and  
she smiled for the first time in almost a month. Just as she was about to knock on the glass separating  
her from the ICU, three nurses and Dr. Pearce seemed to materialize around Sebena, and they four  
members of the hospital staff descended upon the poor child like lint to static. After a battery of tests,  
mainly involving repeated questions, the nurses carefully unhooked Sebena from the non-portable  
monitoring equipment prior to moving her to a private room.  
Dr. Pearce turned to look at Sel through the large window, and flashed Sel a thumbs-up. Sel's  
response was a slight smile and a long sigh, visible to Dr. Pearce as a slump in the bony shoulders  
that were barely hidden by a well-stretched sweater. Sel leaned against the cool glass of the window  
for a few minutes, listening as her heart slowly returned to normal, letting her relax from the feeling  
of having a deranged pinball hammering around in her chest. A few minutes later, Sel opened her  
eyes as Reba finished going through the decontamination process to leave the ICU.  
"So, what's the final evaluation?" Sel was barely keeping herself from launching towards the  
tiny doctor, instead redirecting her energy by slowly digging her fingernails into her forearms.  
Reba sighed and removed the mask covering her nose and mouth. "Well, I'll tell you, but  
only you. Your daughter's lost the ability to respond to several emotions, at least from what I could  
see, and she's also lost several memories, such as where she's lived for the last three years. Finally,  
she's totally blind. Apparently, the damage to her occipital lobe's right hemisphere hid the damage  
to the left, which was damaged enough to totally remove your daughter's ability to see. All in all,  
she should've died on the operating table, if she had managed to get here without shuffling off this  
mortal coil earlier. Either way, she's an amazingly tough fighter, with some unusual bloodwork."  
Sel looked at Dr. Pearce for a few moments, then slowly made her way to an empty chair  
sitting in the hallway. "Well, she does take after me in more ways than one. Now, you said she's  
blind, partially amnesiac, and can no longer feel some emotions. Is there any chance of improvement,  
and when can I see her?"  
"I don't know about the chances of improvement, but anything's possible when you're  
packed with microscopic robots. Now, come on. I'll bring you to her." Reba gently took Sel's hand,  
who allowed the doctor to simply drag her to the room where Sebena was flipping through TV  
channels, trying to understand why she couldn't see the cartoons she loved so much. Sel slowly and  
quietly opened the door, and when she saw Sebena sitting up in bed, looking like a fortune teller with  
the loops of bandages covering her head, she just broke down and dashed over to the bed.  
The next thing Sebena knew, she was being held tightly and small splashes of something  
were falling onto her face, just above her sightless eyes. "Mom? What's wrong? Why are you  
crying?"  
Sel choked back a sob, then tried to speak clearly. "I-I was just worried about you baby. After  
all, you've been asleep for almost a month. Besides, I'm no longer working at the company, so I can  
spend more time with you."  
Sebena smiled for a second, then squeezed her mother's chest with a hug of her own, letting  
her own tears be absorbed into the slightly fluffy wool of Sel's sweater. After a few minutes of the  
two holding onto each other, Sel slowly let go, and carefully ran her fingers over the bandages  
covering Sebena's head.  
"I hope your hair grows back soon. I liked playing with it every once in a while." Sel smiled  
sadly, then stood up. "I have to leave for a little while, because I've pretty much been living in the  
hospital for the last few weeks, but I'll be back in a bit under four hours. Now, I'll leave Dr. Pearce  
to talk to you, but I need to do some things, okay?"  
"Okay. Just, don't take too long." Sebena leaned back against the cushions, absently touching  
the bandages with her right hand until Dr. Pearce walked into the room to start talking to Sebena.  
  
Von Reichter's Castle, 5:25 PM   
  
"WHAT?!?" Mikae's eyes flashed bright red at the medical techno, but she restrained herself  
from simply punching the techno through the wall.  
"Well, I don't know how to explain this, but, apparently, you're pregnant. Considering that  
there's no evidence of..." the techno shuddered in distaste before continuing, "sexual congress, I can  
only assume in-vitro fertilization."  
Mikae shrugged, then turned to the techno and punched the hapless being hard enough to  
leave a very messy splatter effect as the techno's head was liquified by the impact, drooling brains,  
bone, and blood everywhere as the body began to disintegrate. "Well, you didn't tell me what I  
wanted to know. So you die. Now, where's someone who's qualified to do an abortion?"  
Unbeknownst to her, a small video camera had recorded everything she had said and done.  
Looking at the screen hard-wired to all the cameras in the castle, Helmut smiled slightly. "Perfect.  
She'll be the figurehead, trying to destroy Meridiana, while I'll control the real power. After all, the  
Reichter family's dead."  
Behind him, an old painting shimmered slightly, then resolved into an image of a massive,  
shadowed man wearing a monocle and with a distinctive nose, looking like he could hang a  
Christmas ornament off of it. "Well, Helmut. You're still wrong."  
Helmut turned around, choked, and dropped to his knees. "Doctor! I- we thought you were  
dead! We hadn't heard from you for almost three years!"  
"I had my own things to do. Now, where's my son?"  
Helmut looked up and pressed a remote, allowing Dr. Von Reichter to see the video feed of  
the mansion being destroyed, followed up by the subsequent slaughter of Jose.  
"Hmm. Well, your orders are to find and kill every member of that group that killed my son.  
I don't care how long it takes, but you will find and kill every one of them. Also, restore the uplinks  
from the mansion. After all, if you want to wreak havoc in Meridiana, you need an advance base."  
Helmut swallowed slightly, then looked at the floor. "Sir? That's impossible for me to do.  
They all left last week. And the mansion was totally destroyed."  
Von Reichter frowned, turning away from the screen as he did so. "Idiot. The upper floors  
of the mansion meant nothing. Use the basement labs and barracks to stage your attacks." With that,  
the screen fizzled out into the normal view of the monolithic painting with a muttered growl about  
'incompetent runts' letting Helmut curse under his breath for several minutes. 


	25. Cause and Effect 2

Meridiana, 6 Years later   
  
"Mom! Why in hell are you going out tonight? You said we'd be able to sit around and do nothing  
  
after you finished marking those labs." Sebena closed the braille novel she had been reading, and, with  
  
unnerving intuition, she stared directly at Sel's face with her totally colourless eyes.  
  
"Yeah, I know, but Six called me and wants a babysitter for Diana. So I'm just going over to  
  
collect the munchkin and bring her here until Six shows up at about three in the morning." Sel finished  
  
shrugging into her oversized leather trenchcoat, and headed for the garage. "I'll be back in twenty minutes,  
  
so don't get into too much trouble."  
  
Sebena waved absently, then listened as Sel's motorcycle started up, the dull roar of the engine  
  
suddenly rising in pitch before fading away. Sighing under her breath, Sebena carefully felt around for the  
  
TV remote on the coffee table in front of her, and, finding it, she flipped the TV onto a channel that, if Sel  
  
found her listening to, would have earned a clout upside the head.  
  
As she listened to the varied screams, splats, and crunches emanating from the TV, Sebena opened  
  
up her book and felt around for the page number in the upper right corner, eventually finding the page she  
  
wanted. Sighing to herself, she then started to read, her fingertips dancing over the raised bumps and ridges  
  
of braille lettering.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang, allowing Sebena to uncurl from her spot in the couch and  
  
walk, carefully, to the door. Opening the door slowly, she let her eyes focus on where a person would be,  
  
and let her hearing pick up everything.  
  
"Hello, Miss Naryen. It appears that you've once again been left to your own devices."  
  
Sebena smiled, then 'looked' up with her hand until she 'saw' the massive muscles making up her  
  
guest's own hand, which was at the level of her head. "Hello Mel. How are you doing? It seems to me that  
  
you're getting bigger every year I've known you."  
  
Mel chuckled, sounding like a small thunderstorm had collided with a battleship. "Well, you're  
  
the one growing. In a few years, you're going to be taller than your mother. But, I'm not doing  
  
too well. I was wondering if your mother was here, but I think I can guess she isn't."  
  
Sebena shrugged, then moved to the side of the foyer so Mel could squeeze into the house. "She'll  
  
be back in about ten minutes. My adoptive aunt had to go hunting, and left Diana in mom's care.  
  
Sometimes I wonder whether my mother could be the best choice, though."  
  
Mel had moved into the living room, where he could settle his six-hundred pound bulk without  
  
accidentally squeezing someone into a wall. Sebena had followed, her movements totally silent compared  
  
to the heavy thuds of Mel's sneakers. "Your mother remembers when you could see, and did not  
  
forgive those who took that gift from you. Even though she understands Six's position, she  
  
doesn't like it. Besides, she's not the only person to pull a gun on me during my first meeting with  
  
them, but she is the first to actually try to take my head off."  
  
"You're lucky she didn't. Mom's still deadly with any of the guns she owns, but she hasn't had  
  
much practice with the nastier weapons. From what I heard later, that gauss slug had missed your head by  
  
only a few inches."  
  
Mel smiled and ruffled Sebena's hair, letting the long pale strands wrap around his fingers through  
  
some trick of physics. "I'm luckier than I deserve, and it has shown many times. I'll just leave a  
  
note for your mother, because I have some other things to do. I'll see you soon my dear."  
  
Sebena picked up her book as she heard Mel writing something in his unique scribble he always  
  
used, then had to smile. "Well, tell me when you turn forty and I'll make you a cake."  
  
"Keep dreaming my dear. Fare thee well." Mel slowly walked out, closing the door behind him  
  
as Sebena absently thumbed her pert nose at him.  
  
"Bye Mel. Try to keep out of trouble." Sebena heard his heavy footsteps slowly lumber down the  
  
short walk to the street, then disappear with a dull rumble as he jumped away. Five minutes later, the deep  
  
thrum of Sel's motorcycle pulled in, followed by two voices laughing at something. Soon, Sel opened the  
  
door, and Sebena was tackled by a small hurtling mass known as Diana.  
  
"Hey Di! Seems like you're growing even more every time I see you." Sebena ruffled the thick and  
  
smooth hair on Diana's head, wondering if she would ever be able to see her younger friend's hair for real.  
  
Sebena felt the couch shift as Sel took off her boots and sat down, then smiled as Sel deftly twitched the  
  
book out of reach.  
  
"Well, I'll let you two get reacquainted while I make some juice."  
  
"Mom, you've said that every time Di's been over here. Try something new for once." Sebena  
  
heard Sel laugh, then joined in herself, allowing some of her worries to disappear, then turned to Di and  
  
started the now-common ritual of greeting for her, running her hands over Di's smiling face.  
  
Dr. Zack's House, 7:30 PM   
  
"Hi Tony. How's your new tinkertoy set?" Six had just arrived in the basement, and had looked  
  
around in the cavernous space, marvelling at the changes three years had wrought. No longer were there  
  
sixteen different computers sitting on makeshift and oft-repaired worktables, nor were there any lathes  
  
being used as stop-gap centrifuges until the old one would finally decide to start working again. Dr. Zack  
  
had used much of the profits from his nano-processed rubies to do a complete upgrade in his basement  
  
laboratory.  
  
Much of the original laboratory seemed to be unchanged, with the exception of better lighting and  
  
several more obvious security measures to deal with any uninvited spies, but all the computers were  
  
standardized at close to triple their highest previous speed of 2 gigahertz, and there actually was a working  
  
centrifuge gleefully spinning away in a corner, apparently separating something for Dr. Zack's research. The  
  
extension that had slowly appeared over the period of time had also been filled, stacked from floor to roof  
  
with rows of large aquaria, all of which were filled with different shades of glowing green 'Go Juice'.  
  
Dr. Zack had discovered a method for processing sustenance into a fuel additive that boosted  
  
mileage by a healthy fifteen to twenty percent, and had been selling some of the stuff, at a premium, to a  
  
very limited clientele. Over three months, he had made enough money to be able to stuff his mattress and  
  
all the pillows in the house with thousands of bills, if he had ever been inclined to sleep on his cash. While  
  
waiting for Dr. Zack to look up from the circuit board he was playing with, Six nipped over to the brightest  
  
aquarium, stuck a finger into the charged solution, and licked her finger clean. She then shuddered at the  
  
cod-liver aftertaste, making her nose appear to screw itself deeper into her face.  
  
"Well, I won't get as many splinters as I used to. And, from the look on your face, this isn't exactly  
  
a social visit." Dr. Zack stood up from where he had been soldering a connection between two circuits,  
  
and took off the safety goggles so he could get a better look at his long-time friend. "To be really honest,  
  
you look like someone has beaten you over the head and shoulders with a wet trout, followed up by a swim  
  
in the harbour."  
  
Six smiled sheepishly, brushing scales off of her bodysuit. "Yeah, that's pretty much what  
  
happened. Erin decided to pull a fast one on me, but two Fixed Ideas came by just as I was fishing my hat  
  
out of the pile of fish. They just grabbed me and threw me in the drink. Personally, I'm surprised. They  
  
normally would have tried to kill me outright, or capture me to bring to their new boss."  
  
Dr Zack grinned at the mental image of Six fishing through a pile of fish, then shrugged off the  
  
image. "Well, so long as you and your hat's okay, it shouldn't be too much of a problem."  
  
"Hey! That was cheap. It's like me taking your pipe out for a spin in a clothes washer." Six put a  
  
look of aggrieved innocence on her face, but couldn't help cracking up a few seconds later as Dr. Zack  
  
gave her a fish-eyed glance. "Okay, I'm attached to my hat. Is that the last step to it?"  
  
"No, the last step is kicking your addiction to it. I swear, that thing looks like it's going to fall apart  
  
any second now, and you still cling to it like a childhood teddy bear." Six grinned and took off her hat,  
  
gently rubbing it, then ripped off Gollum from the LOTR novel and movies. "Yesss... My Preciousss...  
  
Seriously, though, we have a problem."  
  
"You have a problem with that hat, I'll agree to that. Still, I've heard that their current boss makes  
  
Jose look positively stable."  
  
Six smiled sadly and shook her hat, letting a few stray scales and water droplets fly off of the  
  
abused piece of headgear. "Yeah. From what Mel told me, Mikae's lost all her previous aspects of  
  
humanity. I wish we didn't have to fight her, but it looks like we really have no choice at all. If only we  
  
could just get her back to normal, but what then? Her mother's in a sanitarium, and she'd be so mentally  
  
scarred that we'd probably have to do the same to her."  
  
She sighed, then heard something heavy thump down the stairs. Turning around, Six spotted the  
  
massive green biceps that were larger around than her chest, followed by the craggy and scarred face of  
  
Mel, also known as Fixed Idea 4. "It seems that our newest enemy has begun to flex her muscles.  
  
She's tired of raids on banks and armoured vehicles, and will soon be going for a full out attack  
  
on the city's infrastructure. By the way, it seems that your child is being well taken care of, Six."  
  
Six sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair. "It appears that only Lucas will call me what  
  
I want to be called." She grinned and shrugged, than sat down on a nearby stool.  
  
Dr. Zack couldn't resist the opening and had to respond. "What's that? Shnookums? I swear,  
  
Lucas is still a kid at heart, which makes you the perfect counterpart for him."  
  
Mel laughed, his bass voice rumbling through the air and making the lighter objects in the area  
  
around him jitter madly for a few seconds, while Dr. Zack just grinned and wiggled his fingers in Six's  
  
direction, both in response to Six's face turning beet red. "Well, if that's what you like. I won't pry into  
  
your personal lives. Now, how should we go about dealing with the current threat to the city's life,  
  
limb, and other sundry bits and pieces that I've forgotten about?"  
  
Six frowned, chewing on her lower lip as she thought about what could happen if X-1's plans were  
  
brought to fruition, then she brightened up a bit. "Tell Sel, if only because she has weapons that can drop  
  
an Idea in one hit. Erm... no offense Mel, but I think you'd want to avoid her." Mel nodded, absently  
  
rubbing his side where Sel had 'accidentally' put a bullet into him a few years ago.  
  
"Also, we should tell the police, mainly because they're still on the front lines in this ongoing war,  
  
and they're probably going to be hardest hit. Finally, we should tell everyone who needs sustenance that  
  
it'll be open season, followed by famine in about... how long do we have Mel?"  
  
"About seventy-two hours, give or take an hour. I think you can go to tell Sel, and take  
  
your child home at the same time. Doctor, I think it'd be best if you alerted the authorities, and  
  
I'll try to get into contact with the others, such as Hazel and Erin."  
  
Six snorted. "Good luck. Last I heard, Hazel was going to try to sleep for a week or two, then  
  
she'll most likely try to knock over a bank. Just make sure you still have your gold fillings after you talk to  
  
her. Erin's already out. She left a note saying that she'll be visiting Sel's grandparents for a week or two.  
  
I'll be leaving soon anyhow, so it shouldn't be a problem to drop in on Sel. Have a good night you two."  
  
She then headed towards the door, leaving the two men to talk about the other plans they'd have to make,  
  
as she got ready for the three-house hop over to Sel's modest home.  
  
In under a minute, Six was standing on the porch roof, seconds before she swung downwards and  
  
landed, quite neatly, less than three feet in front of the door. Straightening her hat, Six walked to the door  
  
and pressed the doorbell, listening to the melodic sounds echo through the house. She smiled as a loud  
  
thump was heard, followed by three people opening the door simultaneously.  
  
Diana instantly launched herself into Six's arms, allowing Six to plant a small kiss on Diana's nose,  
  
which pried a giggle from both. Sebena smiled as she listened to the two, but Sel was frowning slightly. "So,  
  
what brings you about so quickly? I thought you'd need a babysitter for several hours, not one."  
  
Six also frowned, but tried to shake it off. "I'd rather talk about it inside, if it's all the same to you."  
  
Sel shrugged, moving aside slightly to let Six move past. Sebena, once Six had passed her, pointedly  
  
'looked' at Sel and stuck her tongue out. Sel sighed and handed over a high-denomination bill.  
  
Everyone moved back into the living room, where they all sat down in their favoured spots. Sel  
  
paused long enough to bring in a plate heaped with chocolate cookies and several glasses of juice from the  
  
kitchen, then gestured for Six to start speaking.  
  
Six finished off the cookie she had started to munch on, then started speaking. "Well, I think you've  
  
seen the increased activity of Ideas, right?"  
  
Sel smiled and leaned back in her seat. "Well, if you're talking about the big, green and ugly variety;  
  
yes. Otherwise, the idea count is near zero."  
  
Six grinned. "Still having problems with student participation in bio class?" Sel nodded, but gestured  
  
for Six to continue with her bit. "Anyhow, I was just over at Tony's when Mel showed up and said that  
  
his new boss has plans to waste the city's infrastructure. Tony's alerting the authorities already, and Mel's  
  
heading out to give a heads-up to everyone who needs some sustenance. Both also want me to ask you  
  
for as many weapons as you can get your hands on, even if I don't like it."  
  
Sel smiled slightly, but spread her hands in helpless defeat. "I turned in almost all of my weapons  
  
except for my personal ones when I retired, and I really don't want to try to get some through my black-  
  
market connections. I could call grandpa and see if he's finished modifying that cannon of his, but I don't  
  
think that'll be ready within the next three days. However, if worst comes to worst, I still have my body  
  
armour."  
  
Six smiled and nodded. "That's about what I expected. The problem is that we don't know what's  
  
going to happen, and we want as much help as possible. If you showed up to help out, we'd all be greatly  
  
appreciative."  
  
Sel shook her head. "I won't put children at risk. I did that six years ago, and I'm still paying for  
  
that mistake. And, as far as I'm concerned, this new boss will have even less morals than the previous one.  
  
I'll only be pulling my armour out in order to protect the children we all know and love."  
  
Six smiled and stood up. "Okay. I think it'd be best if we sent children to shelter at Tony's when  
  
the balloon goes up." Sel nodded.  
  
"I'll herd them in there so they can glue themselves to Tony's Gamecube-3 and Playstation 5. After  
  
all, that monster TV he has is still able to separately view two different inputs and process them to each half,  
  
right?" Six nodded, preparing to leave with Diana. "Well, that'll keep 'em distracted as I work some magic  
  
on the top." Sel then managed to grab a damp rag to remove the smears of chocolate covering Diana's  
  
face before Six finished getting ready to leave. After Six and Diana left, Sel looked at Sebena, who had  
  
once again curled up on the couch with her book.  
  
"So, what do you think?" Sel slumped right back into her chair, silently counting the dimples in the  
  
ceiling from where she had thrown darts when totally bored.  
  
"Well, before you get the darts out, I think you'd better get that suit out from wherever you stashed  
  
it. Then, go and get the thirty or so assault rifles, pistols, and other weapons from your five safe deposit  
  
boxes around the city, and hand them out to people we can trust. Finally, you're going to be taking care  
  
of a bunch of scrubby six year olds, so you'd better have cookies and milk out the ears."  
  
Sel grinned, shifted towards Sebena, and ruffled her daughter's pale, pinkish-red hair. "That's why  
  
we love you. You have all my charming personality traits, and a mind to boot." Sebena cracked up and  
  
laughed for almost five minutes. Four hours later, after Sebena went to bed, Sel pressed a hidden stud on  
  
the mantlepiece in the living room, and entered a small room that held several of her more dangerous  
  
possessions.  
  
The walls of the small, dim room were covered in newspaper clippings, and three tables took up  
  
most of the floor space. On the first table was an assortment of edged blades, ranging from stiletto daggers  
  
to a foot long jagged knife that looked like it could be used for emergency amputations without much  
  
assistance.  
  
The second table, on the opposite side of the room, were several guns. Two Desert Eagles were  
  
sitting together next to several boxes of .50 x 1.5" nitro cartridges, which were reputed to be so powerful  
  
a single bullet would go right through an elephant. Right beside the two magnums was a gun that made the  
  
heavy pistols look like potato guns.  
  
The large gun was over two feet long, almost four centimetres wide, and was one of the ugliest guns  
  
ever seen. The cut-down, bolt action cannon was based on her great-grandfather's Browning 'Tankbuster'  
  
30mm Anti-Tank rifle, but had been converted into a super-sized pistol that could fire shells that were  
  
capable of going right through four inches of steel plate. Sel smiled as she lifted the gun up, feeling its six-  
  
pound weight drag on her arms as she carefully loaded the gun with a magazine marked with a red stripe  
  
around the bottom.  
  
She then turned to the third table, which only held a small earpiece and a bracelet. She put the  
  
earpiece into her left ear, then picked up the second object on the table and carefully placed the purple,  
  
multi-ringed bracelet around her right forearm. She then returned to the first table and picked up the biggest  
  
knife, placing it into a leather sheath, which was then strapped to her left thigh, over the leather pants she  
  
was wearing.  
  
Sel looked down at herself, and sighed angrily. "I never wanted to be like this again. I deliberately  
  
put these parts of my life aside, but now they're being raised from the grave I had put them in. Well, at least  
  
I'll be using them for something other than rampantly killing greenies. Still, I always wish I could come  
  
home, turn on the news, and not have to deal with another report about another greenie attack on  
  
something or someone. Well, maybe, with all of us working together, we'll be able to end this problem,  
  
once and for all."  
  
Undisclosed Location, 9:30 PM   
  
"Sir?"  
  
"Yes? Do we have any new information?"  
  
"We have something all right. Police Chief Enrique just called from Meridiana. There's a report of  
  
a massive assault being planned, and the beings doing the assault are of the pillage, rape and plunder  
  
variety, not to mention green."  
  
"Hmm. If it had come from any other city, I'd have laughed it off as giant frogs with attitudes. But,  
  
Meridiana's always been a special case. Sel lives there, doesn't she?"  
  
"Yes sir. Ever since she retired at the end of the previous mission six years ago. I think she's in her  
  
mid-thirties right now, and her daughter's grown up to be almost as tall as Sel."  
  
"Keep your eyes in their sockets. Now, here's what we're going to do. You will send Zeta team  
  
in for covert assistance. She trained them, she debugged their weapons and armour, and she's still the most  
  
dangerous person known to us, so they're her guardians as of now. Also, I don't give a shit on how you  
  
get them there, but I want the only knowledge of their existence to be when they pop up and cut the assault  
  
force into tiny little crispy strips."  
  
"Yes sir. They'll be heading out in four hours."  
  
"Make it two. The APCs were useful last time, but they're just dead weight now. Also, make sure  
  
that they don't lose anyone. Three of our best commanders were lost because of that damn city, and I don't  
  
want to lose any more. Oh, yes. One more thing."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"Get the head of whomever's responsible for these attacks, and separate it from the rest of the  
  
person."  
  
"Yes Sir."  
  
Somewhere in South America, 10:00 PM   
  
The shadowed form looked out at the large computer monitor that showed multiple screens of  
  
genetic helixes and encapsulated monstrosities that seemed to shift and slide like sacs of protoplasm as they  
  
thrashed in their liquid prisons. A red light flashed twice, catching the person's attention, and silently the  
  
screen filled with the selected image. Inside a ten-foot high tube of green liquid, a small being thrashed,  
  
seemingly in immense agony as bones, visible as lumps under its skin, moved to a pair of focal points just  
  
below the shoulder blades.  
  
Just as the points stretched a bit too much, the skin tore in a series of spider-webbing cracks,  
  
spraying blood and chunks of matter outwards in a swirl of viscera and tissue. There, across the flensed  
  
flesh of the being's back, a set of fully functional, if small and wet, wings finished unfurling, then curled  
  
protectively around the naked body. The person leaned forwards, letting the screen light the lined face and  
  
hideous burn scars covering both cheeks, as the small being on the screen began to heal at an immensely  
  
quick rate.  
  
Keying an intercom button, the person spoke. "Kreumens, check on subject X-2. Apparently, the  
  
genetic sampling of X-1 as well as the partially preserved DNA from Deinonychus Antirrhopus has  
  
produced an interesting side-effect. You might want to check on the subject before it finishes regenerating  
  
from the damage done by its growth." Flicking off the intercom, The person stood and limped over to a  
  
massive window looking out over the jungle, supporting much of his weight on an ornately carved cane.  
  
The moonlight from the skies outside cast a ghostly pallor over his features, but Dr. Maximillian Von  
  
Reichter merely smiled and nodded to himself. "Soon, the city will fall, and I will be able to end that one  
  
series that has plagued me for thirty-seven years. Soon, Cybersix will realize what pain truly is." He looked  
  
down at his right hand, which was a gnarled mass of fused flesh and badly healed bone, even with the  
  
genetic therapies to try and reverse the sustenance burns that had coated his right side when the Isle of  
  
Doom had blown up.  
  
"Soon, she will suffer the ultimate pain. The pain of watching as all her loved ones are tortured to  
  
death in front of her. And I will be the one to pull the trigger. Then, I will be able to rest for a long time." 


	26. Bloody Aftermath

Phyrric Victory.  
  
In a heated, thirty-six hour battle, Meridiana's police, military garrison, and resident population of  
  
genetically engineered beings managed to defeat a superior force of green brutes, known in police circles  
  
as the '4G's (Giant Green Goon Gangs), but at a severe cost to the city's infrastructure, population, and  
  
the brave men and women who fought tooth and nail for the last day and a half.  
  
Many people have seen the destruction that smashed most of the central core of the city, but by  
  
far, the most insulting and devastating part of the damage is the abuse that has been heaped upon the statue  
  
of the city's guardian, visible all over the city. One wing has been completely shattered, and will take at  
  
least six months to rebuild the basic framework, and the face, once a masterpiece of marble carving and  
  
skill, will require another ten months to repair the damage done. Many people have looked at the statue  
  
as a source of inspiration, and this editor even has a painting done of the statue silhouetted against the  
  
setting sun in his office. The damage done, until it is repaired, is nothing more than a scarred blight on the  
  
spirit of our fair city.  
  
The physical damage to the city is nothing compared to the personal cost. The lists of people killed  
  
or missing have exceeded thirty thousand, and more casualty lists are coming into the office by the hour.  
  
Several prominent people are still missing, but we are saddened to report that the mayor, his wife, and most  
  
of his staff were all killed in one of the first attacks. Also, the police chief, once thought dead, has been  
  
found, seriously wounded, but recovering from several bullet wounds to the chest and stomach.   
  
However, even with the horrendous damage done to our city and our people, we will endure.  
  
Already programs have been implemented to help those wounded in the attack, and many people have  
  
already volunteered to assist in restoring the damaged sections of our homes.  
  
Unanswered Questions  
  
Many people have asked the same questions in the last few days as our reporters were, but most  
  
of those questions are completely unanswerable. For example, why did these creatures attack in such force,  
  
last seen almost six years ago? Another question, almost as important, is why did a massive part of that  
  
force get shredded in a heated battle just outside of the city, where the police and military admitted that they  
  
had nothing to do with it? Finally, where were our most prominent defenders of the city, the beings known  
  
as CyberSix and Data 7?  
  
We have tried to answer these questions, and several answers were supplied by a prominent citizen  
  
of our city. The interview with that citizen is on page ten, and several insights are raised by this person's  
  
responses to our questions. We had tried to secure an interview with a neutral representative of the  
  
attacking force, but the person was assassinated before we could arrive at the supplied location. After a  
  
through investigation, it was revealed that the supposedly neutral source had orders to capture one of our  
  
reporters, and torture him or her for information. It appears that our city still has its share of guardian  
  
angels, even with all the troubles we've gone through.  
  
Thankfully, even with the angels we seem to share, and with the hardships we've had to endure,  
  
much of our power and perseverance comes from the people we have come to know. People like our  
  
families, friends, neighbours, and even acquaintances. The unity we showed over the last two days allowed  
  
almost everyone in the city to produce personal examples of heroics, all of which combined to save many  
  
people who would have otherwise died, or prevented damage that would have killed or wounded many  
  
more people than were actually harmed.  
  
All in all, we have survived once again, and our opponents will at least leave us alone for a long  
  
time. Hopefully, they'll realize that our city is on the top of the world's 'Don't Screw With' list, and decide  
  
to move for a place that might be more hospitable, such as Beirut. Maybe then we can all go back to the  
  
lives we once had, where we could loaf around without wondering if something was going to blow up in  
  
the next twenty minutes. With the actions of our friends, neighbours, and even our personal enemies, all  
  
united against our common foes, the dream of peace in our city will become a reality. Let's all work  
  
towards it.  
  
Meridiana Airport, 9:30 PM   
  
"So, you're leaving. Care to tell me why before you get onto that Redeye to Singapore?" Dr. Zack  
  
looked at Sel as she carefully folded up the newspaper she had been reading and looked at him with her  
  
real eye. The patch covering the empty socket where her cybernetic eye had been was already covered  
  
in dust from the constant reconstruction going on in the airport and much of the rest of the city, but Sel  
  
didn't mind, as she didn't feel much irritation from the grit.  
  
"There's a conference in two days there about pathological osteo-degeneration. I'll be checking  
  
that out to see if there's any corporate secrets I missed last time I went to one of these things. Besides, I'm  
  
sick of looking out my window and staring at the ruin of that statue's face. I need a change of scenery, and  
  
Lucas has already agreed to cover my Bio classes for the week I'll be gone."  
  
Dr. Zack frowned as Sel neatly put the paper away in her carry-on, deftly hiding the purple bracelet  
  
she always wore between the folded paper and her clothes. "Well, I don't like it. It's just too convenient,  
  
and you have a lot of enemies in Singapore."  
  
Sel laughed. "Yeah, and I have a good half-dozen aces up each sleeve as well, and I'm not telling  
  
you where I put my ceramic pistol. Just have fun while I'm gone and try to keep the Bean from destroying  
  
something valuable. All you really have to do is give her a braille paperback she hasn't read yet, so try  
  
sneaking in a copy of Pessoa's works sometime. Stop making that face at me; I'm not your daughter, and,  
  
last I checked, you can't pull a true glower to save your life." Sel smiled to take the sting out of her  
  
comment, then stood up and started walking towards the exit terminal.  
  
"Well, considering that I would have had to have fathered you when I was nineteen, I can say with  
  
complete authority that you're in no way related to me. " Dr. Zack fell into pace on Sel's left, letting her  
  
eye track him as she continued to move.  
  
"Well, I know you're just waiting for the opportunity to spit something out, and you have ten  
  
minutes before I have to be on the other side of that gate and on the plane. Care to say it?"  
  
"Not really, considering that you already know all the platitudes I could possibly say to you. Just  
  
be careful, and try to relax, alright? You're as wound up as a clock spring, and you have no way to  
  
unwind."  
  
Sel grinned. "That's what you think. It's just that my idea of unwinding took a massive swath out  
  
of the force that decided to knock on your front door during that fight. Now, that's my flight there, so I'll  
  
be heading off in a couple of minutes. I hope you stay on top of things, and try to say hi to Six and Lucas  
  
for me while I'm gone."  
  
Dr. Zack nodded and shook hands with Sel, then watched as she walked into the terminal, heading  
  
towards her flight. "Godspeed and good luck. You'll probably need it."  
  
Somewhere in South America, 12:40 AM   
  
The body in the tube was beginning to move without neural stimulation, and Dr. Von Reichter was  
  
slightly concerned about the neural scans that showed that X-2's synaptic connections were accelerating,  
  
revealing a greater situational awareness than once thought to have been attainable while in the tube.  
  
However, the physical changes were much more fascinating. The merging of ancient reptilian DNA  
  
with augmented human DNA had allowed the formation of leathery wings, easily twenty feet long, as well  
  
as scythe-like claws sprouting from the right hand, which had retained only two fingers and a thumb, each  
  
claw being almost a foot long, and sharp enough to punch through two feet of titanium. Much of the rest  
  
of the body was unchanged, with the exception of several scaly plates covering X-2's upper torso, thighs,  
  
and calves, acting as heavy armour for the purposes of defence, but without the detriments of hindered  
  
movement due to weight or constriction of joints.  
  
"A killing machine. She has become a fast, flight-capable killing machine. She is smart, fast,  
  
immensely strong, and totally independent of sustenance. The only thing that keeps her in check is the  
  
implant in the back of her neck." Von Reichter used several camera controls to zoom in on the implant, and  
  
he smiled at one of Jose's inventions.  
  
It had once been a mechanical spider, but, implanted into the neck and reprogrammed, it made a  
  
very effective fail-safe. The razor-tipped 'legs' of the spider were strategically positioned at the carotid and  
  
jugular arteries and veins, as well as at the juncture between the fourth and fifth vertebra, where a blade  
  
could slip into the spine and paralyse the body completely. A quick jolt of regenerative stem cells plus a  
  
nano-tech cocktail would put her right as rain if it was a minor infraction, but for serious violations, there  
  
would be a waiting period.  
  
Inside the tank, the being that had once been Cyber X-1, now known as Nightmare X-2, twitched  
  
slowly, flexing the claws and letting her wings flap slowly in the confined space, sending up eddies of thicker  
  
sediments and clouded sustenance, obscuring the red eyes that stared out into the room beyond. 


End file.
